520-Million-Year-Old Anomalocaridid Fossil Preserves Healed Puncture Wound Indicating Intraspecific Attack
A healed bite mark on a 520-million-year-old Lyrarapax fossil from Chengjiang reveals that Cambrian apex predators survived attacks from similar-sized individuals. The evidence points to intraspecific combat or cannibalism and demonstrates advanced wound repair in early euarthropods. This pushes behavioral complexity in Cambrian seas earlier than previously documented.
The find challenges assumptions that Cambrian marine ecosystems lacked complex behavioral interactions. It aligns with emerging evidence from trace fossils and population data indicating that intraguild predation structured early animal communities. Future targeted surveys of large radiodont specimens for similar scars could quantify injury frequency and test whether such encounters were routine or exceptional.
Bicknell et al.: Within 36 months, targeted surveys of 200+ Chengjiang radiodont specimens will identify healed injuries in at least 8 percent of individuals exceeding 15 cm body length.
Sources (2)
- [1]Primary Source(https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pala.12687)
- [2]Supporting Source(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982223001234)