Paleoecology of naticid-molluscan prey interaction during the Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) in Kutch, India: Evolutionary implications

We document and quantify one of the oldest predator-prey interactions between naticid gastropods and molluscan prey, based on drill holes in shells, from the Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) beds of Kutch, western India. Previously, many workers recorded naticid-like drill holes on prey taxa from the Triassic and the Jurassic, but in the absence of associated naticid body fossils, they remained equivocal.

The present gastropod community is dominated by turritellines (98% of the sample) which form the TDA (turritelline-dominated assemblage) and the naticid drilling predation is almost entirely restricted to turritellines among gastropods. Confamilial naticid predation takes place occasionally. Within the bivalve community, corbulids and nuculids are most abundant and are drilled more often than other taxa. These observations indicate that prey selection was opportunistic and solely based on availability. Drilling intensities at both assemblage and lower taxon levels are low. Behavioural ster...