Description

Metulatheca starki
Middle Miocene (Mohnian)
Aguajito Shale Member, Monterey Fm.
Carmel, California, USA

Paired slab with 32mm worm tube plus others on 99mm slab

The Pectinariidae (trumpet worms) is a family within the Class Polychaeta (polychaete worms) Pectinariids date back perhaps to the Cretaceous and are still living today.

Worm tubes are formed from a secretion of the worm mixed with sand. The mixture hardens and the worm lives inside it. Fossil worm tubes are uncommon at the few localities from which they are known because the tube is usually destroyed by soil compaction or erosion over time. Therefore, this is an oddball kind of trace fossil for the collector who looks for things that aren’t always commercially available.