Scientists have discovered a new genus and species of worm-like freshwater clam, commonly known as a shipworm, eats rock and expels sands as scat while it burrows like an ecosystem engineer in the Abatan River in the Philippines. The finding of this study was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
The indigenous people of Bohol Island tipped off an international team of scientists, including Reuben Shipway, the University of Amherst post-doctoral researcher to the watery location of the bivalve, which the scientists named Lithoredo abatanica, using the Latin words for rock (litho) and the last two syllables of shipworm (teredo). According to Shipway, residents call the shipworm "antingaw," and new mothers are said to eat them to improve lactation.
The lead author of the study and a marine biologist working in the microbiology lab of Professor Barry Goodell, Shipway noted that these animals are among the most essential in the river and this ecosystem. As they bore elaborate tunnels in the limestone bedrock, these animals change the course of the river and provide a rich environment for other aquatic species in which to live. So far, this place is the only place on earth that they know these animals exist.
Shipway explained that most other shipworms are as skinny as fingers. These animals are quite robust and chubby with different looks. Where they get their nutrition is still unknown.
In the Philippines, it is the second new genus and species of shipworm recently discovered by this international team of researchers known as the Philippine Mollusk Symbiont International Collaborative Biodiversity Group, funded by the National Institutes of Health. The impossibly elongated, pink, and pinstriped Tamilokus mabinia is the other new bivalve that eats wood like most shipworms and was found to be filled with bacteria that provide its nutrition. The researchers produced a video abstract detailing its identification.
Shipway said that the new shipworm might provide new insights for paleontologists. Until recently, fossil borings in rocky substrates were believed to be a marker for ancient marine habitats. L. Abatanica revealed that such fossils might mark ancient freshwater sites as well.
Shipway also noted that the international collaborative aims to understand and preserve biodiversity, boost research capabilities of partners in the Philippines and, essentially, use the biodiversity the animals reflect for new drug discovery. In his conclusion, he said that this research is one of the noblest projects he has ever been involved.
