Fossil Record 12(1): 7-11, doi: 10.1002/mmng.200800006
Cannibalism in a small growth stage of the Early Permian branchiosaurid Apateon gracilis (Credner, 1881) from Saxony
expand article infoF. Witzmann‡
‡ Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany
© F. Witzmann.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: Witzmann F (2009) Cannibalism in a small growth stage of the Early Permian branchiosaurid Apateon gracilis (Credner, 1881) from Saxony. Fossil Record 12(1): 7-11. https://doi.org/10.1002/mmng.200800006
Open Access
Abstract
An almost complete specimen of the branchiosaurid temnospondyl Apateon gracilis (Credner, 1881) with a skull length of approximately 7 mm from the Early Permian Döhlen Basin in Saxony is described that possesses a nearly complete conspecific specimen of approximately 4 mm skull length in its digestive tract. This is the first evidence of cannibalistic behaviour in small growth stages of branchiosaurids, whose dentition and hyobranchial morphology suggest adaptations to the capture of small invertebrates and feeding on small phyto- and zooplankton by filtering from the water. Therefore, cannibalism in small branchiosaurids certainly represents an exceptional case, possibly triggered by unfavourable environmental conditions.

doi:10.1002/mmng.200800006