Bite marks as evidence of predation in early vertebrates

Abstract

Lebedev, O.A., Mark-Kurik, E., Karataj u t E -Talimaa, V.N., Luk ß evi ç s, E. and Ivanov, A. 2009. Bite marks as evidence of predation in early vertebrates. -Acta Zoologica (Stockholm), 90 (Suppl. 1): 344-356Study of lifetime bite traces on agnathans and fish (or gnathostomes) from Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and north-western and central European Russia reveals evidence of predator-prey relationships in communities of Devonian age. Numerous bite traces on skeletal parts of agnathan pteraspidiforms and psammosteiforms, placoderm arthrodires and antiarchs and sarcopterygian porolepiforms and osteolepiforms are described. Evidence of healing shows that prey organisms responded to predation by reconstruction of damaged skeletal elements. Ichthyofaunistic analysis is used to establish possible predators. The most probable predators in the Middle and Late Devonian communities are sarcopterygian porolepiforms and osteolepiforms. Predatory tetrapods become evident during the Famennian. Global analysis of aquatic predators during the Silurian-Devonian interval shows a gradual increase in species numbers with time. During the Late Silurian, only ischnacantid acanthodians, early osteichthyans and sarcopterygians are known to belong to this trophic group. By the end of the Devonian this list is complemented by chondrichthyans, arthrodires, porolepiform, osteolepiform, struniiform and rhizodontiform sarcopterygians and tetrapods. Only Devonian agnathans show no predatory groups. In sarcopterygians, predatory dentitions, which developed according to more or less the same pattern, show little change during the Devonian.

Physical evidence of predatory behavior in Tyrannosaurus rex

“…The fused vertebrae and embedded tooth are the result of an attack on a live hadrosaur, not the scavenging of a carcass, and represent unequivocal evidence of a predator-prey relationship (3,33). Rugose bone growth encrusting and partially covering the embedded tyrannosaur tooth in the hadrosaur vertebrae indicates that the hadrosaur was unquestionably injured while it was alive and survived the attack long enough to partially heal.…”

“…Healed injuries on potential prey animals provide the most unequivocal evidence of survival of a traumatic event (e.g., predation attempt) (3,32,33), and several reports attribute such damage to T. rex (4,17,19,20). These include broken and healed proximal caudal vertebral dorsal spines in Edmontosaurus (17) and healed cranial lesions in Triceratops (4,19).…”

The Early Devonian Armoured Agnathans of Podolia, Ukraine

“…23; Lebedev et al 2009: fig. 1), found at Gorodok, representing complete articulated carapace, with only posterior parts of the cornual plates and the dorsal spine are.…”

“…fig. 23) fig− ured a cast of perfectly preserved specimen of Larnovaspis kneri from Gorodok (see also Lebedev et al 2009: fig. 1), probably also referred to by Obruchev (1973).…”

Phylogenetic relationships of psammosteid heterostracans (Pteraspidiformes), Devonian jawless vertebrates

“…Figure 2 provides a visual explanation of some ratios of plates, which were used in character codings. For each psammosteid taxon, text and graphic data on the type specimens were used (Elliott, Mark-Kurik, and Daeschler, 2004;Elliott and Mark-Kurik, 2005;Halstead Tarlo, 1964aLyarskaya, 1971;Mark-Kurik, 1968, 1999Novitskaya, 1965Novitskaya, , 2004Obruchev, 1940;Obruchev and Mark-Kurik, 1965;Růžička, 1929;Tarlo, 1961). The most recent data on the general morphology, ornamentation and histology of psammosteids were also encoded (Glinskiy, 2014;Glinskiy and Mark-Kurik, 2016;Glinskiy and Nilov, 2017;Glinskiy and Pinakhina, 2018;Keating, Marquart, and Donoghue, 2015;Moloshnikov, 2001).…”