2025/12/19 by Stijn GOOLAERTS · 2 voices
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology #Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils #Ichthyology and Marine Biology
paper · doi:10.20341/gb.2025.011
openalex publication_date 2025/12/19 · openalex created_date 2025/12/19 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Three tests of the holasteroid echinoid Hemipneustes striatoradiatus from the Belgian-Dutch type area of the Maastrichtian Stage preserving evidence of vertebrate-invertebrate interactions are documented and analysed. One specimen exhibits adoral pentagonal puncture marks, presumably made by the premaxillary teeth of Mosasaurus hoffmannii, together with a large aboral scar interpreted as resulting from an impact of the lower jaw. A second test preserves evidence of two separate attacks, the first by a mosasaur, presumably Plioplatecarpus marshi, leaving both a pentagonal adoral scar and a large aboral one, and the second by a shark, leaving non-penetrating small, deep triangular pits with tapering tails. A similar pitting is seen on the third test, arranged in clusters and here interpreted as a shark bite from above followed by a second bite subsequent to a 90° rotation of the echinoid. These finds provide the first unambiguous evidence of mosasaur predation on Hemipneustes and add to the sparse record of shark-echinoid interactions, suggesting that predation on large holasteroids by vertebrates was more frequent than previously recognised. All three tests also exhibit syn vivo and post-mortem invertebrate interactions, including also an undescribed serpulid.