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A Cretaceous hermit crab from Antarctica: predatory activities and bryozoan symbiosis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2004

M.B. Aguirre-Urreta
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires, 1428, Argentina
E.B. Olivero
Affiliation:
CIRGEO, Centro de Investigaciones en Recursos Geológicos, Ramírez de Velasco 847, Buenos Aires, 1414, Argentina

Abstract

A hermit crab assigned to Paguristes sp. is described from James Ross Island, Antarctica. The fossil was obtained from the Gamma Member of the Santa Marta Formation of late Campanian age. The specimen is associated with an external mould of the gastropod Taioma, that was encrusted by a colony of ascophoran bryozoans. Another specimen of Taioma shows typical predatory marks in the outer lip that are attributed to the action of pagurids. It is concluded that the particular dwelling habits of the hermit crabs, their symbiosis with bryozoan, and their predatory activities were already established by the end of the Cretaceous.

Type
Papers—Earth Sciences and Glaciology
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 1992

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