Abstract
Shipworms are a group of wood-boring and wood-feeding bivalves of extraordinary economic, ecological and historical importance. Known in the literature since the fourth century BC, shipworms are both destructive pests and critical providers of ecosystem services. All previously described shipworms are obligate wood-borers, completing all or part of their life cycle in wood and most are thought to use wood as a primary source of nutrition. Here, we report and describe a new anatomically and morphologically divergent species of shipworm that bores in carbonate limestone rather than in woody substrates and lacks adaptations associated with wood-boring and wood digestion. The species is highly unusual in that it bores by ingesting rock and is among the very few known freshwater rock-boring macrobioeroders. The calcareous burrow linings of this species resemble fossil borings normally associated with bivalve bioerosion of wood substrates (ichnospecies Teredolites longissimus) in marginal and fully marine settings. The occurrence of this newly recognized shipworm in a lithic substrate has implications for teredinid phylogeny and evolution, and interpreting palaeoenvironmental conditions based on fossil bioerosion features.
Highlights
IntroductionTeredinids, commonly referred to as shipworms, are a group of predominantly marine, obligate wood-boring (xylotrepetic) and wood-feeding (xylotrophic) bivalves
Teredinids, commonly referred to as shipworms, are a group of predominantly marine, obligate wood-boring and wood-feeding bivalves
Multiple specimens of L. abatanica were collected from carbonate limestone exposed in the bed and low banks of the Abatan River, Antequera, Bohol, Philippines
Summary
Teredinids, commonly referred to as shipworms, are a group of predominantly marine, obligate wood-boring (xylotrepetic) and wood-feeding (xylotrophic) bivalves. As the primary consumers of woody materials across the world’s oceans, shipworms play a critical role in liberating and cycling the recalcitrant carbon sequestered in lignocellulosic material, from shallow coastal driftwoods to deep-sea wood falls and mangrove stilt roots, seagrass rhizomes and coconut seeds [1,2]. This prolific ability to degrade wood causes billions of dollars in damage to coastal structures, seagoing vessels and fishing equipment per annum, and as a result, shipworms are considered economically important pest organisms [1]. In lieu of protective valves, the shipworm’s vermiform body is covered by a calcareous
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