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https://doi.org/10.5194/fr-21-55-2018
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the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
28 Feb 2018
Research article |
| 28 Feb 2018
| 28 Feb 2018
Eggs for breakfast? Analysis of a probable mosasaur biting trace on the Cretaceous echinoid Echinocorys ovata Leske, 1778
Christian Neumann
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Museum für Naturkunde – Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und
Biodiversitätsforschung, Invalidenstrasse 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany
Oliver Hampe
Museum für Naturkunde – Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und
Biodiversitätsforschung, Invalidenstrasse 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany
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Short summary
We describe a biting trace on the oral surface of a large Maastrichtian holasteroid echinoid Echinocorys ovata from Hemmoor (northern Germany) which exhibits four circular punctures, arranged in a semi-circular arc. The punctures were not lethal to the sea urchin as is indicated by progressed skeletal regeneration and closure of the fractures. The shape and arrangement of the biting trace are analyzed suggesting that it was produced most likely by a globidensine mosasauroid.
We describe a biting trace on the oral surface of a large Maastrichtian holasteroid echinoid...
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