Feeding traces related to shells from the Prague Basin, Czech Republic (Tremadocian to early Darriwilian, Ordovician)

Kraft, Petr; Bruthansová, Jana; Mikuláš, Radek

doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.109399

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…7 – 9 ). In other specimens from the Šárka Formation nodules, scavenging activity is often related to the ‘crumble’ representing decaying tissues 12 , but that is not the case here. There was no feeding activity in the thorax or the pygidium.…”

Section: Postmortem Eventsmentioning

confidence: 77%

“…Blurry aggregates of porous and grainy matter occur very frequently in the nodules of the Šárka Formation, usually associated with body fossils and ichnofossils. The position and extent of this material allow us to interpret it as a diagenetic product of substances produced by tissue decay 12 . Informally referred to as ‘crumble’, after its appearance, it provides important clues to the position, size and morphology of the soft body parts buried with the exoskeleton.…”

Section: Reconstructing the Digestive Tractmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Uniquely preserved gut contents illuminate trilobite palaeophysiology

Kraft,

Vaškaninová,

Mergl

et al. 2023

Nature

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Trilobites are among the most iconic of fossils and formed a prominent component of marine ecosystems during most of their 270-million-year-long history from the early Cambrian period to the end Permian period1. More than 20,000 species have been described to date, with presumed lifestyles ranging from infaunal burrowing to a planktonic life in the water column2. Inferred trophic roles range from detritivores to predators, but all are based on indirect evidence such as body and gut morphology, modes of preservation and attributed feeding traces; no trilobite specimen with internal gut contents has been described3,4. Here we present the complete and fully itemized gut contents of an Ordovician trilobite, Bohemolichas incola, preserved three-dimensionally in a siliceous nodule and visualized by synchrotron microtomography. The tightly packed, almost continuous gut fill comprises partly fragmented calcareous shells indicating high feeding intensity. The lack of dissolution of the shells implies a neutral or alkaline environment along the entire length of the intestine supporting digestive enzymes comparable to those in modern crustaceans or chelicerates. Scavengers burrowing into the trilobite carcase targeted soft tissues below the glabella but avoided the gut, suggesting noxious conditions and possibly ongoing enzymatic activity.

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Section: Postmortem Eventsmentioning

confidence: 77%

Section: Reconstructing the Digestive Tractmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uniquely preserved gut contents illuminate trilobite palaeophysiology

Kraft,

Vaškaninová,

Mergl

et al. 2023

Nature

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“…After KRAFT et al (2020) and other authors, producers of Palaeophycus apparently preferred an easily accessible and nourish ing food that was easily consumed, e.g., their trace makers selec tively oriented on decaying soft tissues. The Arachnostega and Pilichnus traces are oriented in a manner suggesting systematic feeding.…”

Section: Feeding Post-mortemmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…1) are a classical source of diverse and wellpreserved skeletal fauna (e.g., HAVLÍČEK & VANĚK, 1966), including abundant trilobites (BUDIL et al, 2007). A rich association of disarticulated and ar ticulated trilobites, agnostids, echinoderms, brachiopods, hyo liths, organicwalled microfossils, and graptolites associated with remains of phyllocarid crustaceans, bivalves, cephalopods, ostra cods, and trace fossils have been thoroughly examined from these two formations for nearly two hundred years (CHLUPÁČ, 1970;KRAFT, 1972;BUDIL et al, 2007;MANDA, 2008;POLECHOVÁ, 2013;LAJBLOVÁ & KRAFT, 2014;AUBRECHTOVÁ & TUREK, 2018;KRAFT et al, 2020). Since the 19 th century studi es, several tens of thousands articulated trilobite exoskeletons have been collected at several tens of outcrops of Middle Ordovician rocks (e.g., MAREK, 1961;BUDIL et al, 2007;MERGL et al, 2008).…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untitled

2022

Geol Cro

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The Lower Paleozoic sediments of the Barrandian area are globally renowned as a classical example of well-preserved skeletal marine fauna, including abundant remains of trilobites. Seve ral tens of morphologically anomalous exoskeletons of trilobites have been collected and documented from Cambrian to Devonian clastic sediments and carbonates. One of them, an exceptionally well preserved, articulated and partly enrolled exoskeleton of the Ordovician nektobenthic trilobite Parabarrandia bohemica (NOVÁK, 1884) exhibits a prominent palaeopathological anomaly in its pygidium. We interpret this anomaly as a healed traumatic injury and attribute this damage to a failed predatory attack. The subsequently healed injury is classified as the ichnogenus Oichnus BROMLEY, 1981. The structure on the pygidium is strongly reminiscent of injuries caused by octopods and a large cephalopod is proposed as a potential durophagous predator responsible for the herein described trilobite injury. However, an attack from an unknown arthropod while the trilobite was in a soft-shelled stage cannot be excluded.

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“…Large cephalopods were abundant in marine assemblages from the Lower Ordovician onward (e.g. Brett and Walker, 2002;Kröger, 2011), including the Barrandian area (Manda, 2008;Aubrechtová, 2015;Aubrechtová and Turek, 2018). However, their capability to break shells cannot be proven due to the lack of direct evidence of jaws, but they appeared supposedly in the Ordovician (Klug et al, 2017).…”

Section: Role Of Cephalopodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sheltered preservation in Ordovician trilobites

2021

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Abstract. Articulated holaspid specimens of Placoparia Hawle and Corda, 1847 and Eoharpes Raymond, 1905 entombed inside cephalopod conchs and under the remains of large illaenid, asaphid, cyclopygid and dalmanitid trilobites from the Middle Ordovician Šárka Formation of the Prague Basin (Czech Republic) are described and discussed. Two such samples were also found in the overlying Dobrotivá Formation of Middle/Late Ordovician age. Four articulated juvenile exoskeletons of Placoparia preserved under a cephalon of the cyclopygid trilobite Degamella Marek, 1961 represent the first record of shelter strategy of non-holaspid trilobites. The sheltered preservation of trilobites could be explained by a hiding behaviour associated with the danger of predation, storm disturbances, seeking for food or high vulnerability after moulting. It is obvious that Placoparia and Eoharpes deliberately entered the restricted space under skeletal parts of large trilobites or inside cephalopod conchs. These exceptional finds provide a new insight in the life strategy of some Ordovician benthic trilobites and are classified as cases of “frozen” behaviour.

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Feeding traces related to shells from the Prague Basin, Czech Republic (Tremadocian to early Darriwilian, Ordovician)

Cited by 6 publications

References 27 publications

Uniquely preserved gut contents illuminate trilobite palaeophysiology

Uniquely preserved gut contents illuminate trilobite palaeophysiology

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Sheltered preservation in Ordovician trilobites

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