POLISHED PETRIFIED PEANUT WOOD

Peanut wood from Australia is a distinctive form of petrified wood marked by bold, white “peanut-shaped” spots—actually ancient shipworm borings preserved in silica. These tunnels were created by Teredo-type clam larvae that infested drifting Araucaria wood in warm Cretaceous seas roughly 110–120 million years ago. As the wood later sank and fossilized, mineral-rich groundwater replaced the organic tissue and filled the shipworm burrows, producing the striking high-contrast patterns collectors love today.