Muricid boreholes in Pleistocene acorn barnacles from the Beagle Channel: trophic interactions during the Last Interglacial in southern South America

Abstract

Gordillo, S., 2013. Muricid boreholes in Pleistocene acorn barnacles from the Beagle Channel: trophic interactions during the Last Interglacial in southern South America. Alcheringa 37, 1–8. ISSN 0311-5518.Acorn barnacles with boreholes were recovered from a Pleistocene marine deposit on Navarino Island, on the southern coast of the Beagle Channel. Balanomorph shells were identified as Balanus laevis (Bruguière, 1789), and a few bear small round holes located generally on the middle or apical part of the parietal plates, thus suggesting that they represent the work of small muricid predators. If so, this study is the first record of drilling predation on fossil barnacles reported in southern South America.[Sandra Gordillo [sgordillo@cicterra-conicet.gov.ar], Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CICTERRA, CONICET-UNC); Centro de Investigaciones Paleobiológicas (CIPAL), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Av. Vélez Sársfield 1611 X5016GCA Córdoba, Argentina. Received 8.1.2013; revised 26.3.2013; accepted 2.4.2013