Thatchtelithichnus on a pliocene grey whale mandible and barnacles as possible tracemakers

The ichnogenus Thatchtelithichnus Zonneveld, Bartels, Gunnell & McHugh was created for ring-shaped, roughly circular grooves affecting the outer surface of plastral bones of Eocene geoemydid turtles. Such traces were assumed to be attachment scars of aquatic ectoparasites (possibly ticks, leeches or liver flukes). Despite its well-distinctive aspect, Thatchtelithichnus has only been reported subsequently by few works and mostly from the plastron-bottom of freshwater turtles. Here we provide the first record of Thatchtelithichnus from a fossil mammal bone, namely, a partial grey whale mandi... Mehr ...