The fate of a middle Danian (Lower Paleocene) turtle from the bryozoan limestone of Faxe Quarry, Denmark

A piece of turtle carapace from the Middle Danian bryozoan limestone at the Faxe quarry, eastern Denmark, is identified as a partial coastal plate from the carapace of a chelonioid turtle. In addition to being the first record of turtles from the Middle Danian of Denmark, the fragment bears evidence of a dramatic taphonomic history comprising traces of three separate acts of predation and/or scavenging. Two circular bite traces measuring 4mm in diameter and situated 2.5cm apart have fractured the carapace and are interpreted as crocodylian predation traces, probably fatal to the turtle. Smaller groups of parallel scrapes, 4-5mm long and 0.5mm, wide are interpreted as bite traces from sharks, and small circular traces, only 1mm in diameter, found either solitary or in a row of three, are interpreted as scavenging traces from fish.