The trace fossil Sinusichnus from the Upper Ordovician of Anticosti Island,eastern Canada |
| |
Authors: | Dirk Knaust André Desrochers |
| |
Institution: | 1. Equinor ASA, 4035 Stavanger, Norway;2. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Ottawa, 150 Louis Pasteur (460), Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5 Canada |
| |
Abstract: | Branched, sinusoidal burrows assigned to Sinusichnus cf. seilacheri Knaust et al. 2016; occur in Upper Ordovician (Hirnantian) carbonates on Anticosti Island. These are abundant and monospecific at the base of the Oncolite Bed of the uppermost Ellis Bay Formation, marking a regional discontinuity surface during the multiphase Ordovician mass-extinction event. In contrast to Mesozoic and Cenozoic records of Sinusichnus, commonly attributed to the activity of decapod and isopod crustaceans, the burrow systems from Anticosti Island were probably produced by other arthropods of unknown affinity. A combined dwelling, locomotion and feeding behaviour of their trace maker is assumed. This is the oldest record of the ichnogenus Sinusichnus, previously only known since the Triassic, and its first evidence from North America. |
| |
Keywords: | Arthropod burrow ichnology late Ordovician mass extinction trace fossil |
|
|