New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics abstracts

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Gastropod predation patterns in Pliocene and Recent pectinid bivalves from Antarctica and New Zealand

H. A. JONKERS

British Antarctic Survey
Natural Environment Research Council
High Cross, Madingley Road
Cambridge CB3 0ET, United Kingdom
email: H.A.Jonkers@bas.ac.uk

Abstract  Boreholes in the large, extinct Antarctic Neogene pectinid Zygochlamys anderssoni suggest that this scallop was preyed upon by a large predatory muricid gastropod (possibly a Trophon species). The holes occur in mature individuals, which contrasts with the situation in modern Zygochlamys delicatula from New Zealand, where gastropod predation is apparently restricted to juveniles only. This difference is ascribed to dissimilarities in the lifestyles of these scallops; whereas the former was probably byssally attached throughout ontogeny, adults of the latter become free living after an initial period of byssal attachment. During the late Pliocene, a change towards higher motility in Chlamys-like pectinids of the Southern Ocean may have caused the loss of an important food source for the larger muricids.

Keywords  Antarctica; New Zealand; gastropod predation; Pectinidae; Muricidae

New Zealand Journal of Geology & Geophysics, 2000, Vol. 43: 247-254

0028-8306/00/4302-0247 $7.00/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand 2000

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (1620K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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