Yilingia, an Ediacaran worm that died at the end of its own trail

[Halichoeres]

Meet Yilingia spiciformis ("spiky-looking thing from Yiling [district]"), an apparent bilaterian (that is, an animal with left-right symmetry and a through-gut) preserved at the end of its own ichnofossil. It not only pushes back hard evidence for animal motility and the existence of really wormlike creatures, but it's rare to get the maker of a trace fossil preserved with the trace.


In panel f of this figure, the blue bracket is the worm's body, and the white bracket is the end of its "death march."

Paper (paywalled, probably, but feel free to PM me for pdf): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1522-7

[Faelrin]

Wow that's quite the amazing discovery there. Interesting looking "worm" too.