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Predatory drilling on molluscan assemblages along the Patagonian shelf (southern Argentina)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 March 2024

Sandra Gordillo Open the ORCID record for Sandra Gordillo [Opens in a new window]  and
M. Sol Bayer
Sandra Gordillo*
Affiliation:
Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Museo de Antropologías, Córdoba, Argentina Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET), Instituto de Antropología de Córdoba (IDACOR), Avda. Hipólito Yrigoyen 174, X5000JHO, Córdoba, Argentina
M. Sol Bayer
Affiliation:
Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Instituto de Geología de Costas y del Cuaternario (CIC-UNMdP), Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Deán Funes 3350, 1° Nivel, B7602AYL, Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Godoy Cruz 2290, C1425FQB, Caba, Argentina
*
Corresponding author: Sandra Gordillo; Email: gordillosan@yahoo.es
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Abstract

Both present-day and fossil molluscan assemblages offer an opportunity for a better understanding of the structure and organization of both modern and past benthic communities. In this framework, drill holes are used widely to explore predator–prey interactions. This research focuses on predation marks, especially drill holes, recorded on modern molluscan assemblages in a Patagonian sector of the Argentinean continental shelf. Shelled molluscs (n = 2179) were recovered from 27 to 135 m depths covering a long latitudinal extent (between 39° and 54°S). For each station, taxonomic position, ecological composition and relative abundance of taxa were determined, and then drilling frequency (DF) was calculated to infer drilling intensity. The collected molluscs belong to 37 families, with Veneridae being the most abundant in terms of the number of specimens (n = 419). Specimens with drill holes (n = 226) belong to 21 families (with at least 33 different species). Most of them are suspension feeders (85.8%) and the remaining percentage comprised other trophic types. Naticids and muricids, as main potential predators, together account for 19.6% of the gastropods present in the molluscan assemblages. DF across all the stations was moderate (9.9%) but varied between low (0–2.4%) and high (28.9%). These results do not show a trend linked to latitude or depth, and the great variability of DF between stations suggests that other local ecological or environmental conditions would influence drilling predation at a small spatio-scale.

Keywords

drilling predationshelled molluscsmodern assemblagescontinental shelfPatagonia Argentina
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 104 , 2024 , e34
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

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