FR Fossil Record FR Foss. Rec. 2193-0074 Wiley Göttingen, Germany 10.1002/mmng.200800006 Cannibalism in a small growth stage of the Early Permian branchiosaurid <i>Apateon gracilis</i> (Credner, 1881) from Saxony Witzmann F. 1 Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany 01 02 2009 12 1 7 11 Copyright: © 2009 F. Witzmann 2009 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is available from https://fr.copernicus.org/articles/12/7/2009/fr-12-7-2009.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://fr.copernicus.org/articles/12/7/2009/fr-12-7-2009.pdf

An almost complete specimen of the branchiosaurid temnospondyl <i>Apateon gracilis</i> (Credner, 1881) with a skull length of approximately 7 mm from the Early Permian Döhlen Basin in Saxony is described that possesses a nearly complete conspecific specimen of approximately 4 mm skull length in its digestive tract. This is the first evidence of cannibalistic behaviour in small growth stages of branchiosaurids, whose dentition and hyobranchial morphology suggest adaptations to the capture of small invertebrates and feeding on small phyto- and zooplankton by filtering from the water. Therefore, cannibalism in small branchiosaurids certainly represents an exceptional case, possibly triggered by unfavourable environmental conditions. <br><br> doi:<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mmng.200800006" target="_blank">10.1002/mmng.200800006</a>