Are Those His Widdle Footpwints?

[tracer]

i've never felt that it was fair to horseshoe crabs to be named after some random mammal's footwear. and then i ran across the fellow below, and saw the little ichnotrackings leading right up to his, well, his...hang on, i know the word isn't "symphysis" and don't want to get in trouble....ok, anyway, his butt area, and i thought, "poor widdle guy, those are his final steps!"

then the analytical side of me wrested my consciousness from the poignancy prong of my brain and said, "hey wait, why would the tracks be raised if he made them? is this some sort of m. c. escher version of a fossil plate or what?

so what do ya'll think? can someone 'splain?

by the way, this pfossil is pfor psale at the museum gift shop in h-town (im' gangsta at heart), but i was too scared to check prices because i dint want to fall down. but they had majorly cool stuff, and it's nice to know people can get a fossil fix in that town anytime during business hours.

[Auspex]

Can't be tracks, unless he just rolled-over and died (and they're pretty well designed to resist rolling over).

[Shamalama]

If I look close, the bumps seem to be in the middle of a faint "lane". Perhaps it is a fossil trace of it's last steps and the bumps are part of the way it walked. Maybe burrowing/eating traces? It's scooped things into a small mound them moved on? Maybe it's just the hint of a large backbone beneath the rest of the sediment? Just excizzleing my brainizzle.

Dave

[ebrocklds]

i would say that the are his last tacks. the explanation behind them being bumps is simple. as he walks the legs push against the sea floor sediments create small dips with a small mound next to it. unlike bigger things ie. dinos that press indents into the ground these little guys wouldn't weigh enought to make much of a lasting impression especially under water. it is very common to find "death tracks" leading to mesolimulus fossils from solhofen. the best example i know of is at the wyoming dinosaur center in thermopolis wyoming. the specimen has a tack that is around 30 ft long and then ends with the limulus walking in a small circle then dying. google limulus tracks and i am certain you will find many good examples.

Brock

[mommabetts]

i would say that the are his last tacks. the explanation behind them being bumps is simple. as he walks the legs push against the sea floor sediments create small dips with a small mound next to it. unlike bigger things ie. dinos that press indents into the ground these little guys wouldn't weigh enought to make much of a lasting impression especially under water. it is very common to find "death tracks" leading to mesolimulus fossils from solhofen. the best example i know of is at the wyoming dinosaur center in thermopolis wyoming. the specimen has a tack that is around 30 ft long and then ends with the limulus walking in a small circle then dying. google limulus tracks and i am certain you will find many good examples.

Brock

Interesting