State of the art of durophagy in the fossil record: predator-prey interactions in marine mollusks (Classes Gastropoda and Bivalvia)

Abstract

Predation as an evolutionary mechanism of diversification is a topic of great interest. Durophagy is the feeding behavior of preying on hard-shelled or exoskeleton-bearing organisms. On this matter, because of their worldwide distribution, abundance, wide range of habitats, and a remarkable preservation frequency, mollusks are of particular interest in the study of predation in the fossil record. In the present work, papers published in international scientific magazines focusing on the issue of durophagy on fossil marine bivalve and gastropods as potential prey were analyzed. A total of 101 papers on this subject were reviewed. Six-kinds of evidence of durophagy were identified: drilling, repaired and fragmented shells, bites, punctures and coprolites. Most items are of Cenozoic age and the majority of the records available correspond to the tropics. Most Paleozoic potential predators were not identified; this situation extends to the Mesozoic, but predation of gastropods and bivalves by carnivorous gastropods, arthropods, fishes and reptiles was recognized. Predation by naticid and muricid gastropods prevails during the Cenozoic, also was recognized predation by arthropods, fishes and mammals.