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Bioerosion on brachiopod shells – a Cenozoic perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2007

Emma Taddei Ruggiero
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra dell’Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Largo S. Marcellino 10, 80138 Napoli, Italy. E-mail: ruggiem@unina.it
Maria Aleksandra Bitner
Affiliation:
Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Twarda 51/55, 00–818 Warszawa, Poland

Abstract

This study describes bioerosion traces ascribed to either predation or endo- and epibiont activity in twenty assemblages from the Mediterranean region and Paratethys, spanning in age from Eocene to Recent. Statistical analysis of the distribution of bioerosion traces among genera and assemblages revealed that there is higher drilling predation intensity on smaller species. Larger species seem to be primarily affected by non-drilling predators. Greatest variety in types of bioerosion could be related to species’ ecology and body size. Both major categories of bioerosion (etchings and traces of predatory activity) vary considerably among samples. Different genera show significant differences in the frequency of different bioerosion types. Shell size seems a major factor contributing to these differences.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 2008

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