Article: A new decapod trackway from the Upper Cretaceous, James Ross Island, Antarctica
Publication: Palaeontology
Volume:
47
Part:
1
Publication Date:
January
2004
Page(s):
1
–
12
Author(s):
Duncan Pirrie, Rodney M. Feldmann and Luis A. Buatois
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.