WoRMS source details
Boessenecker, Robert W.; Fordyce, R. Ewan. (2015). Trace fossil evidence of predation upon bone-eating worms on a baleen whale skeleton from the Oligocene of New Zealand. Lethaia. 48(3): 326-331.
484428
10.1111/let.12108 [view]
Boessenecker, Robert W.; Fordyce, R. Ewan
2015
Trace fossil evidence of predation upon bone-eating worms on a baleen whale skeleton from the Oligocene of New Zealand
Lethaia
48(3): 326-331
Publication
Annelidabase
The osteophagous worm Osedax (Annelida: Siboglinidae) colonizes vertebrate bones in deep-sea environments globally. Osedax bioerosion of modern bones suggests a potentially destructive agent in the marine vertebrate fossil record, but the dearth of published reports of abundant Osedax traces suggests an uncertain taphonomic influence of this organism. This study reports Osedax traces (Osspecus boreholes, pockmarks and collapsed galleries) in an Oligocene baleen whale (Cetacea: Eomysticetidae) from New Zealand, which constitute the first record of fossil Osedax traces from the southern hemisphere. Some Osedax traces are cross-cut by linear biogenic scrape marks, implying that sharks or bony fish fed upon Osedax worms, a process which compounds or potentially accelerates worm-inflicted damage to vertebrate bones in marine environments.
New Zealand
Paleontology, Fossils, Paleobiology
Systematics, Taxonomy
Systematics, Taxonomy
Date
action
by
Osedax Rouse, Goffredi & Vrijenhoek, 2004 (additional source)
Osspecus Higgs, Little, Glover, Dahlgren, Smith & Dominici, 2012 † (additional source)
Tohoraata raekohao Boessenecker & Fordyce, 2015 † (original description)
Tokarahia Boessenecker & Fordyce, 2015 † (original description)
Tokarahia kauaeroa Boessenecker & Fordyce, 2015 † (original description)
Waharoa Boessenecker & Fordyce, 2015 † (original description)
Waharoa ruwhenua Boessenecker & Fordyce, 2015 † (original description)
Osspecus Higgs, Little, Glover, Dahlgren, Smith & Dominici, 2012 † (additional source)
Tohoraata raekohao Boessenecker & Fordyce, 2015 † (original description)
Tokarahia Boessenecker & Fordyce, 2015 † (original description)
Tokarahia kauaeroa Boessenecker & Fordyce, 2015 † (original description)
Waharoa Boessenecker & Fordyce, 2015 † (original description)
Waharoa ruwhenua Boessenecker & Fordyce, 2015 † (original description)
