Mephisto worms going underground

WE KNOW THE ground is teeming with worms, right? But how deep do those critters go? A new species of roundworm, Halicephalobus…

WE KNOW THE ground is teeming with worms, right? But how deep do those critters go? A new species of roundworm, Halicephalobus mephisto, has been discovered hanging out at remarkable depths below ground in South Africa.

The deep sub-surface biosphere that extends kilometres below our feet has long been considered the domain of single-celled organisms, but an international team reported in a letter to the science journal, Nature, last week that nematode worms, including this new “mephisto” species (pictured), were also present in waters deep within South African gold mines.

The researchers went looking for nematodes in these seemingly hostile environments because roundworms are renowned for their ability to withstand extreme conditions.

And the worms' legendary toughness has suffered no loss of face – the Naturestudy turned up several species of nematode (including the demonically named H. mephisto) in fracture water taken from between 0.9 and 3.6km underground in the gold mines.

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These subterranean creatures appear to be able to withstand the high temperatures of the deep environment, and they snack on microbes, which are in plentiful supply.

The discovery of such complex life forms deep underground should be taken into consideration when we are probing other planets, according to the study authors.

“The ability of multicellular organisms to survive in the subsurface should be considered in the evolution of eukaryotes and the search for life on Mars,” they write.