Bite traces in a turtle carapace fragment from the middle Danian (Lower Paleocene) bryozoan limestone, Faxe, Denmark

A fragment of a turtle carapace from the Middle Danian bryozoan limestone at the Faxe quarry, eastern Denmark, is identified as a partial costal plate from the carapace of a chelonioid turtle. The fragment bears traces of three separate acts of predation or scavenging. Two circular bite traces Nihilichnus nihilicus Mikuláš et al. 2006, 4 mm in diameter, situated 2.5 cm apart, are interpreted as crocodylian. Groups of parallel scrapes, Machichnus bohemicus Mikuláš et al. 2006, 4–5 mm long and 0.5 mm wide, are interpreted as bite traces from sharks. Small circular traces, ~1 mm in diameter, found either alone or in a row of three, are either from sharks or fish. This is the first record of turtles from the Danian bryozoan limestone exposed in Faxe quarry, and thus represents an important addition to the Danian vertebrate fauna of Denmark.