A New Decapod Trackway from the Upper Cretaceous, James Ross Island, Antarctica |
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| Authors: | Duncan Pirrie Rodney M Feldmann & Luis A Buatois |
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| Institution: | Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter, UK;Department of Geology, Kent State University, USA;Conicet, Instituto Superior de Correlación Geológica, Argentina |
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| Abstract: | A new trace fossil, Foersterichnus rossensis igen. nov. and isp. nov., is described from the Coniacian Hidden Lake Formation, James Ross Island, Antarctica. The trace fossil is a trackway comprising straight, or slightly curving, paired rows of elongate to tear-shaped impressions, parallel or slightly inclined to the long axis of the trackway. Foersterichnus is interpreted to be the trackway of a brachyuran decapod crustacean. It occurs in transgressive shallow marine deposits formed above the storm wave base in a shelf setting. Preservation of the trackway may have been linked to a rapid deoxygenation event during drowning that led to cessation of bioturbation allowing preservation of mixed layer trackways. |
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| Keywords: | trace fossils decapods Cretaceous Antarctica |
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