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First evidence of marine turtle gastroliths in a fossil specimen: Paleobiological implications in comparison to modern analogues

Giovanni Serafini, Caleb M. Gordon Orcid Logo, Jacopo Amalfitano Orcid Logo, Oliver Wings Orcid Logo, Nicole Esteban Orcid Logo, Holly Stokes, Luca Giusberti Orcid Logo

PLOS ONE, Volume: 19, Issue: 5, Start page: e0302889

Swansea University Authors: Nicole Esteban Orcid Logo, Holly Stokes

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DOI (Published version): 10.1371/journal.pone.0302889

Abstract

Semi-articulated remains of a large chelonioid turtle from the Turonian strata (Upper Cretaceous; ca. 93.9–89.8 Myr) near Sant’Anna d’Alfaedo (Verona province, northeastern Italy) are described for the first time. Together with the skeletal elements, the specimen also preserves pebbles inside the th...

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Published in: PLOS ONE
ISSN: 1932-6203
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2024
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa66526
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Together with the skeletal elements, the specimen also preserves pebbles inside the thoracic area which are lithologically distinct from the surrounding matrix. These allochthonous clasts are here interpreted as geo-gastroliths, in-life ingested stones that resided in the digestive tract of the animal. This interpretation marks the first reported evidence of geophagy in a fossil marine turtle. SEM-EDS analysis, together with macroscopic petrological characterization, confirm the presence of both siliceous and carbonatic pebbles. These putative geo-gastroliths have morphometries and size ranges more similar to those of gastroliths in different taxa (fossils and extant) than allochthonous “dropstone” clasts from the same deposit that were carried by floating vegetation A dense pitted pattern of superficial erosion is microscopically recognizable on the carbonatic gastroliths, consistent with surface etching due to gastric acids. The occurrence of a similar pattern was demonstrated by the experimental etching of carbonatic pebbles with synthetic gastric juice. Gut contents of modern green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) were surveyed for substrate ingestion, providing direct evidence of geophagic behavior in extant chelonioids. 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spelling v2 66526 2024-05-29 First evidence of marine turtle gastroliths in a fossil specimen: Paleobiological implications in comparison to modern analogues fb2e760b83b4580e7445092982f1f319 0000-0003-4693-7221 Nicole Esteban Nicole Esteban true false 6ee6932996059ed9e4d581641acce2f7 Holly Stokes Holly Stokes true false 2024-05-29 BGPS Semi-articulated remains of a large chelonioid turtle from the Turonian strata (Upper Cretaceous; ca. 93.9–89.8 Myr) near Sant’Anna d’Alfaedo (Verona province, northeastern Italy) are described for the first time. Together with the skeletal elements, the specimen also preserves pebbles inside the thoracic area which are lithologically distinct from the surrounding matrix. These allochthonous clasts are here interpreted as geo-gastroliths, in-life ingested stones that resided in the digestive tract of the animal. This interpretation marks the first reported evidence of geophagy in a fossil marine turtle. SEM-EDS analysis, together with macroscopic petrological characterization, confirm the presence of both siliceous and carbonatic pebbles. These putative geo-gastroliths have morphometries and size ranges more similar to those of gastroliths in different taxa (fossils and extant) than allochthonous “dropstone” clasts from the same deposit that were carried by floating vegetation A dense pitted pattern of superficial erosion is microscopically recognizable on the carbonatic gastroliths, consistent with surface etching due to gastric acids. The occurrence of a similar pattern was demonstrated by the experimental etching of carbonatic pebbles with synthetic gastric juice. Gut contents of modern green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) were surveyed for substrate ingestion, providing direct evidence of geophagic behavior in extant chelonioids. Comparison with modern turtle dietary habits may suggests that the pebbles were ingested as a way to supplement calcium after or in preparation for egg deposition, implying that the studied specimen was possibly a gravid female. Journal Article PLOS ONE 19 5 e0302889 Public Library of Science (PLoS) 1932-6203 6 5 2024 2024-05-06 10.1371/journal.pone.0302889 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences Geography and Physics School COLLEGE CODE BGPS Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee The author Giovanni Serafini received a Richard K. Bambach Student Research Award from the Paleontological Society for this study. 2024-06-10T12:57:17.4825869 2024-05-29T14:47:20.8581635 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Giovanni Serafini 1 Caleb M. Gordon 0000-0003-3781-7965 2 Jacopo Amalfitano 0000-0003-4280-304x 3 Oliver Wings 0000-0002-6482-6683 4 Nicole Esteban 0000-0003-4693-7221 5 Holly Stokes 6 Luca Giusberti 0000-0002-4401-5410 7 66526__30585__ef718ed787eb43be8076d6c521d2aa24.pdf 66526.VoR.pdf 2024-06-10T12:55:15.6522051 Output 7994324 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2024 Serafini et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title First evidence of marine turtle gastroliths in a fossil specimen: Paleobiological implications in comparison to modern analogues
spellingShingle First evidence of marine turtle gastroliths in a fossil specimen: Paleobiological implications in comparison to modern analogues
Nicole Esteban
Holly Stokes
title_short First evidence of marine turtle gastroliths in a fossil specimen: Paleobiological implications in comparison to modern analogues
title_full First evidence of marine turtle gastroliths in a fossil specimen: Paleobiological implications in comparison to modern analogues
title_fullStr First evidence of marine turtle gastroliths in a fossil specimen: Paleobiological implications in comparison to modern analogues
title_full_unstemmed First evidence of marine turtle gastroliths in a fossil specimen: Paleobiological implications in comparison to modern analogues
title_sort First evidence of marine turtle gastroliths in a fossil specimen: Paleobiological implications in comparison to modern analogues
author_id_str_mv fb2e760b83b4580e7445092982f1f319
6ee6932996059ed9e4d581641acce2f7
author_id_fullname_str_mv fb2e760b83b4580e7445092982f1f319_***_Nicole Esteban
6ee6932996059ed9e4d581641acce2f7_***_Holly Stokes
author Nicole Esteban
Holly Stokes
author2 Giovanni Serafini
Caleb M. Gordon
Jacopo Amalfitano
Oliver Wings
Nicole Esteban
Holly Stokes
Luca Giusberti
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container_issue 5
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publishDate 2024
institution Swansea University
issn 1932-6203
doi_str_mv 10.1371/journal.pone.0302889
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
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department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
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description Semi-articulated remains of a large chelonioid turtle from the Turonian strata (Upper Cretaceous; ca. 93.9–89.8 Myr) near Sant’Anna d’Alfaedo (Verona province, northeastern Italy) are described for the first time. Together with the skeletal elements, the specimen also preserves pebbles inside the thoracic area which are lithologically distinct from the surrounding matrix. These allochthonous clasts are here interpreted as geo-gastroliths, in-life ingested stones that resided in the digestive tract of the animal. This interpretation marks the first reported evidence of geophagy in a fossil marine turtle. SEM-EDS analysis, together with macroscopic petrological characterization, confirm the presence of both siliceous and carbonatic pebbles. These putative geo-gastroliths have morphometries and size ranges more similar to those of gastroliths in different taxa (fossils and extant) than allochthonous “dropstone” clasts from the same deposit that were carried by floating vegetation A dense pitted pattern of superficial erosion is microscopically recognizable on the carbonatic gastroliths, consistent with surface etching due to gastric acids. The occurrence of a similar pattern was demonstrated by the experimental etching of carbonatic pebbles with synthetic gastric juice. Gut contents of modern green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) were surveyed for substrate ingestion, providing direct evidence of geophagic behavior in extant chelonioids. Comparison with modern turtle dietary habits may suggests that the pebbles were ingested as a way to supplement calcium after or in preparation for egg deposition, implying that the studied specimen was possibly a gravid female.
published_date 2024-05-06T12:57:16Z
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