First Cretaceous cephalopod statoliths

Statoliths are aragonitic structures inside cephalopod head, responsible for the sense of balance. Up to now, Mesozoic statoliths were known only from the Jurassic; here we report first Cretaceous cephalopod statoliths. Mesozoic forms somewhat resemble the statoliths of Recent Pygmy Squid (see figure). This suggests that pygmy squids (Idiosepiidae) are basal decabrachians and Mesozoic statoliths belong to their relatives and/or belemnoids.

PUBLICATION: Pindakiewicz M. K., Hryniewicz K., Janiszewska K., Kaim A. 2022. First Cretaceous cephalopod statoliths fill the gap between Jurassic and Cenozoic forms. Comptes Rendus Palevol 21(36):801-813. doi: 10.5852/cr-palevol2022v21a36