Abstract
More than 10,000 non-marine microconchid tubeworms (order Tentaculita) from the Lower Carboniferous (Mauch Chunk Group) of West Virginian, USA, have been inspected with respect to the occurrence of specimens having repaired injuries. The inspection showed that only nine specimens bear distinct regenerations of their tubes which constitute only 0.08% of the total specimens. This value, although much lower than that obtained from other encrusting tentaculitoid tubeworms, is very similar to that calculated before for the thousands of Early Devonian planktonic tentaculitids. This clearly indicates that sample size (specimen number) is critical for obtaining the reliable data about the proportion of regenerated vs. unaffected specimens. The sublethal injuries present in these few individuals probably resulted from failed predation, most probably by grazing fishes. However, the repaired injuries only indicate that some individuals survived but do not provide any information about the predation intensity on the group in the given paleoenvironment. Microconchids encrusted a given substrate in large quantities, so grazing fishes may have easily removed the majority of individuals, leaving no trace of predation activity in the Early Carboniferous, non-marine paleoenvironments of what is now West Virginia.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.