Halicephalobus mephistoPROPERTY OF THE UNIVERSITY GHENT, BELGIUM - GAETAN BORGONIE
Scientists have identified a new species of microscopic worms living in the ground below South African mines, isolated from fracture water gushing up from miles below the Earth's surface. It is the first multicellular organism to be found at such depths.
The discovery of the tiny nematode (named Halicephalobus mesphisto after Mephistopheles, a literary nickname for the Devil), published in this week's issue of Nature, challenges the assumption that deep subsurface ecosystems cannot support multicellular life and may have implications in the search for life on other planets.
"Up until this time, all these [deep subsurface] systems were thought to be prokaryotic," said Jim Fredrickson, a biologist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory who was not involved in the research. The paper makes "a very ...
