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Drill Holes and Predation Traces versus Abrasion-Induced Artifacts Revealed by Tumbling Experiments

Drill holes made by predators in prey shells are widely considered to be the most unambiguous bodies of evidence of predator-prey interactions in the fossil record. However, recognition of traces of predatory origin from those formed by abiotic factors still waits for a rigorous evaluation as a prer...

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Autores principales: Gorzelak, Przemysław, Salamon, Mariusz A., Trzęsiok, Dawid, Niedźwiedzki, Robert
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3591327/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23505530
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058528
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author Gorzelak, Przemysław
Salamon, Mariusz A.
Trzęsiok, Dawid
Niedźwiedzki, Robert
author_facet Gorzelak, Przemysław
Salamon, Mariusz A.
Trzęsiok, Dawid
Niedźwiedzki, Robert
author_sort Gorzelak, Przemysław
collection PubMed
description Drill holes made by predators in prey shells are widely considered to be the most unambiguous bodies of evidence of predator-prey interactions in the fossil record. However, recognition of traces of predatory origin from those formed by abiotic factors still waits for a rigorous evaluation as a prerequisite to ascertain predation intensity through geologic time and to test macroevolutionary patterns. New experimental data from tumbling various extant shells demonstrate that abrasion may leave holes strongly resembling the traces produced by drilling predators. They typically represent singular, circular to oval penetrations perpendicular to the shell surface. These data provide an alternative explanation to the drilling predation hypothesis for the origin of holes recorded in fossil shells. Although various non-morphological criteria (evaluation of holes for non-random distribution) and morphometric studies (quantification of the drill hole shape) have been employed to separate biological from abiotic traces, these are probably insufficient to exclude abrasion artifacts, consequently leading to overestimate predation intensity. As a result, from now on, we must adopt more rigorous criteria to appropriately distinguish abrasion artifacts from drill holes, such as microstructural identification of micro-rasping traces.
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spelling pubmed-35913272013-03-15 Drill Holes and Predation Traces versus Abrasion-Induced Artifacts Revealed by Tumbling Experiments Gorzelak, Przemysław Salamon, Mariusz A. Trzęsiok, Dawid Niedźwiedzki, Robert PLoS One Research Article Drill holes made by predators in prey shells are widely considered to be the most unambiguous bodies of evidence of predator-prey interactions in the fossil record. However, recognition of traces of predatory origin from those formed by abiotic factors still waits for a rigorous evaluation as a prerequisite to ascertain predation intensity through geologic time and to test macroevolutionary patterns. New experimental data from tumbling various extant shells demonstrate that abrasion may leave holes strongly resembling the traces produced by drilling predators. They typically represent singular, circular to oval penetrations perpendicular to the shell surface. These data provide an alternative explanation to the drilling predation hypothesis for the origin of holes recorded in fossil shells. Although various non-morphological criteria (evaluation of holes for non-random distribution) and morphometric studies (quantification of the drill hole shape) have been employed to separate biological from abiotic traces, these are probably insufficient to exclude abrasion artifacts, consequently leading to overestimate predation intensity. As a result, from now on, we must adopt more rigorous criteria to appropriately distinguish abrasion artifacts from drill holes, such as microstructural identification of micro-rasping traces. Public Library of Science 2013-03-07 /pmc/articles/PMC3591327/ /pubmed/23505530 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058528 Text en © 2013 Gorzelak et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Gorzelak, Przemysław
Salamon, Mariusz A.
Trzęsiok, Dawid
Niedźwiedzki, Robert
Drill Holes and Predation Traces versus Abrasion-Induced Artifacts Revealed by Tumbling Experiments
title Drill Holes and Predation Traces versus Abrasion-Induced Artifacts Revealed by Tumbling Experiments
title_full Drill Holes and Predation Traces versus Abrasion-Induced Artifacts Revealed by Tumbling Experiments
title_fullStr Drill Holes and Predation Traces versus Abrasion-Induced Artifacts Revealed by Tumbling Experiments
title_full_unstemmed Drill Holes and Predation Traces versus Abrasion-Induced Artifacts Revealed by Tumbling Experiments
title_short Drill Holes and Predation Traces versus Abrasion-Induced Artifacts Revealed by Tumbling Experiments
title_sort drill holes and predation traces versus abrasion-induced artifacts revealed by tumbling experiments
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3591327/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23505530
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058528
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