Epizoic stramentid cirripedes on ammonites from Late Cretaceous platy limestones in Mexico

Abstract

The discovery of platy limestone deposits in northeastern Mexico has led to the collection of well-preserved stramentids of early Turonian age from Vallecillo, state of Nuevo León, and of early Coniacian age from El Carranza, state of Coahuila.Stramentum(Stramentum)pulchellum(Sowerby, 1843) colonized the ammonite shells during the lifetime of the animals, occasionally in two subsequent generations. Colonization of the ammonite shell byStramentum(S.)pulchellumwas hindered by strong ornamentation only. The ammonites did not interfere with their epizoans. Colonization during lifetime shows that these ammonites dwelled in well-oxygenated water levels near the surface, and most stramentids were embedded alive. The known paleobiogeographic occurrence ofStramentum(S.)pulchellumand its long stratigraphic occurrence are considerably enlarged by our findings. The pseudoplanktonic mode of life ofStramentum, and attachment to ammonite shells, may have been a response of a once benthic organism to repeated oxygen-deficient conditions on the seafloor of mid-Cretaceous oceans, i.e., to oceanic anoxic events (OAEs).