Mosasauroid predation on an ammonite – Pseudaspidoceras – from the Early Turonian of south-eastern Morocco

Abstract

A juvenile specimen of the ammonite Pseudaspidoceras from the Early Turonian of the Goulmima area in the Province of Er-Rachida in south-eastern Morocco shows clear evidence of predation by a tooth-bearing vertebrate. Most of the body chamber is missing, as a result of post-burial compactional crushing. The adapertural part of the shell on the left flank of the surviving fragment of body chamber bears six circular punctuations; the right flank four. These are interpreted as the product of a single bite by a mosasauroid, probably a Tethysaurus.

The taxonomy of the Goulmima Pseudaspidoceras is discuused in an appendix.