Tooth marks of the Great White Shark from a Pliocene outcrop of the Northern Apennines (Castell'Arquato, Italy)

Abstract

We describe and analyze a rib fragment of a small cetacean from the Castell'Arquato Plio-Pleis­tocene Basin (Northern Apennines, Italy) that displays various tooth marks featuring parallel stria­tions similar to those left by the serrated tooth of the extant white shark, Carcharodon carcharias. The dis­­covery locality, known as "Buca della Balena", was an inner-shelf marine setting where sharks may have scavenged on drifting cetacean carcasses in Piacenzian times. The high number of marks found on the small bone fragment suggests multiple bites by one or more shark individuals. The rib fragment stud­ied is one of the few osteological specimens from the Pliocene of the Mediterranean Basin to pre­serve white shark tooth marks.