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Symbiotic worms in the inner aragonitic layer of Leptodesma (Bivalvia) from the Přídolí (Upper Silurian) of Saaremaa Island, Estonia

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Abstract

Multiple calcareous worm-like boring casts occur on the inner surface of the calcitic external layer of the bivalve Leptodesma sp. from the Kaugatuma Formation (lower Přídolí, Upper Silurian) of Saaremaa Island, Estonia. Most of the boring casts are oriented with their apertures towards the posterior margin of Leptodesma sp. The worm-like casts were originally borings in the aragonitic layer of the valve. The borings were filled with sediment and the aragonitic layer of the bivalve later dissolved. The orientation of the borings indicates that they were likely made during the life of Leptodesma. The boring worms likely used the feeding currents of the bivalve to capture suspended nutrients, so they may have been kleptoparasites. Based on the morphology of borings in Leptodesma, they likely housed some type of filter-feeding polychaete annelid.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support to O.V. and U.T. was provided by Paleontological Society Sepkoski Grant and Estonian Research Council grants (IUT20-34 and PRG836). We are grateful to G. Baranov, Department of Geology, Tallinn University of Technology for digital photographing of the specimen. We are grateful to journal reviewers K. de Baets and M.K. Zapalski for the constructive comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of Tartu, Ravila 14A, 50411, Tartu, Estonia

    Olev Vinn

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, The College of Wooster, Wooster, OH, 44691, USA

    Mark A. Wilson

  3. Natural History Museum, University of Tartu, Vanemuise 46, 51014, Tartu, Estonia

    Mare Isakar

  4. Department of Geology, Tallinn University of Technology, Ehitajate tee 5, 19086, Tallinn, Estonia

    Ursula Toom

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  1. Olev Vinn
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  2. Mark A. Wilson
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  4. Ursula Toom
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Correspondence to Olev Vinn.

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Handling editor: Mike Reich.

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Vinn, O., Wilson, M.A., Isakar, M. et al. Symbiotic worms in the inner aragonitic layer of Leptodesma (Bivalvia) from the Přídolí (Upper Silurian) of Saaremaa Island, Estonia. PalZ 95, 231–236 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-021-00554-x

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