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The Influence Of Spines And Size Refuge On Predation Of Devonian Brachiopods From The Lime Creek Formation Near Rockford, Iowa, Broc S. Kokesh

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

Brachiopods are small invertebrates that live on the seafloor and are prominent in the fossil record from 540 to 250 million years ago. An interesting feature of some species is that large spines develop on their exterior surfaces. These spines are thought to have evolved for defense against predators, but fossils are limited in how much information they contain about how organisms interact with each other. In this study, I examined wound markings on fossils of both a spiny (Atrypa rockfordensis) and spineless (Atrypa devoniana) species of brachiopod. Results show that spiny brachiopods were less frequently …