Life after Death: Subaerial and subterranean necrophagous invertebrate activity in dinosaur bone from the Wealden Group (Early Cretaceous), Isle of Wight, UK

Invertebrate bioerosion including unusually large borings are reported for the first time in dinosaur bone from the Vectis Formation (Early Cretaceous, Barremian-Aptian) of Compton Bay, Isle of Wight. Sub-circular tunnels of up to 15mm diameter and 60mm maximum length penetrate trabecular bone from a large theropod (cf. Baryonyx sp.) pelvis. The specimen from a channel-fill sandstone, shows evidence of prolonged subaerial weathering and associated borings probably made by ossiphagous beetles. This suggests the occurrence of at least seasonally extended dry periods during the transitional stage from alluvial flood plain to deltaic-lagoonal complex. From the underlying Wessex Formation we describe subterranean burrows passing through an articulated skeleton of the small ornithopod Hypsilophodon foxii, leaving a trail of bone-chips. The skeleton also displays borings and other destructive behaviour especially around the long bone epiphyses, with associated burrows indicating post-burial activity. There is no evidence for pupal chambers. The growing literature on continental Mesozoic bone macro-borings reflects their utility when reconstructing the palaeoclimate, palaeoenvironment and taphonomic history of a carcass, usually with adults or larvae of dermestid beetles (Coleoptera, Dermestidae) as the inferred trace makers. However the reported examples do not correlate well with the behaviour of extant species and we evaluate the roles of other invertebrates as scavengers of dinosaur bone in the Early Cretaceous