Traces of bone-eating "zombie worms" have been found in a three-million-year-old fossil from Italy, say researchers.
Osedax worms feed on whale skeletons on the seabed using root-like tissues to bore into and dissolve the bones.
Scientists from the Natural History Museum in London identified telltale borings in the fossil using a scanner.
The discovery suggests the worms were much more widespread throughout prehistoric oceans than thought.
The findings of lead scientist Nicholas Higgs and colleagues are published in the journal Historical Biology.
The only other evidence of Osedax worms in the fossil record was found off the coast of Washington state, US, last year.
Mr Higgs, a PhD student at the University of Leeds, was investigating Osedax worms for his studies with scientists at the Natural History Museum, London and made contact with staff at the University of Florence's Museum of Natural History in Italy.
Staff had previously discovered a whale fossil surrounded by other fossilised organisms that suggested an ecosystem had developed around the carcass.
These 'whale falls' provide ideal conditions for bone-eating worms so Mr Higgs travelled to Italy to investigate the fossils.
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By Ella Davies Reporter, BBC Nature
