Multiple attempted predation in the Middle Ordovician gastropodBucania gracillima

Abstract

Repaired shell injuries, resulting from multiple non-lethal predatory attacks are reported in the bellerophontid gastropod Bucania gracillima Koken, 1896, from the upper Middle Ordovician of Sweden. The described specimen shows four distinct, ontogenetically separate, attacks on the body whorl, each of which resulted in shell breakage and subsequent shell repair. All but one of the attacks are concentrated along the dorsal emargination, with large portions of the shell being removed in the three major episodes of breakage. Irregular growth of the dorsal carina and on the lateral areas associated with the attacks, shows that the mantle itself was damaged. The predator, however, is unknown.