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Trace fossil/burrow


Plantguy

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Guessing this is a invert burrow of some sort. Surface find Sarasota Cnty, Florida. Unknown age/formation. Mio-Plio-Pleistocene.

Interesting striations encircle the specimen that are at an angle to the overall length of the tear drop shaped specimen. Wondering if anyone knows what ichnogenus this might be and who/what created it. I've seen a few of these over the years but this is the best example I have. 

598fc0fb4033b_Endofunknownpossibleburrow.thumb.jpg.12e446cb8c0e19e7428fac4d16149451.jpg598fc0909dc12_Unknownpossibleburrow.thumb.jpg.f03c6e905a84474ec8570e61a28b78e2.jpg

Thanks. 

Regards, Chris 

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Finding an exposed layer with the same stratification would shoot the whole idea down pretty quick though. Could be just the way the stuff tumbles.

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Very interesting ichnofossils. They look like they are from the Glossifungites ichnofauna but what exactly I don't know. 

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42 minutes ago, Rockwood said:

Doesn't the term ichnofacies refer to the an associated environment rather than the fossil ?

An ichnofacies is a distinctive ichnofauna or assemblage of ichnofauna, this may then be used to infer environment.

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Almost like a wave particle relationship maybe ? Neither side of the equation would stand on it's own ?

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10 hours ago, Rockwood said:

Almost like a wave particle relationship maybe ? Neither side of the equation would stand on it's own ?

I guess you are right in that  you need an environment for the ichnofauna to live in.

The way I think if it is that the ichnofacies is an assemblage of inchnofauna commonly found together. It is s tangible thing.

An ichnofacies may be representative of a certain type of environment. The question might be how do we independently determine environment to " calibrate" our ichnofacies - perhaps by using other information such as forams or sedimentology?

An ichnofacies can then be used more rapidly to estimate paleoenvironment.

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Thanks gang. Glossifungites ichnofacies makes sense and I should do some more poking around in the literature. I need to go look into Rhizocorallum as well. I should have also mentioned that there are other examples of traces/borings and other invert molds/casts only (no actual shell material remains) and some ray/shark material and vertebrate bits --I'll have to get some photos and will share later to add to the context. Unfortunately this find is a surface find in truck fill so there is no stratigraphy to compare or sample from--typical of many florida locales. 

 

More later. thanks! Regards, Chris 

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I'm pretty sure it's not Rhizocorallium. My guess would be Teredolites, or in extreme case Gastrochaenolites.

 

 

bioglifos-12-728.jpg.28ba7004a55307b736584120661b1aea.jpg

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Thanks Lori. sounds good. Here's a shot of the variety of other material that this specimen was found with. There are a number of smooth burrow tube types as shown in the lower left of the photo. There are some shrimp burrows there as well. In addition to the shark material and ray small bits I was pleased to find a tiny sawfish tooth! 

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5990d3b58b3ae_Sawfishtooth.thumb.jpg.0a3eb9ef6c79ec03412b3546f317180b.jpg

Regards, Chris 

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Pretty nice finds, Chris, and good pictures! The shrimp burrows look like the nice one you've sended to me, and I thank you for that and for the other excellently preserved fossils. :)
I would like to compare the first specimen you've posted with the sample from  R. G. Bromley et al.1984. A Cretaceous woodground: the Teredolites ichnofacies. Journal of Paleontology, 58(2):488-498, because of the good resemblance, but I can't decide between the two types of ichnofacies: Teredolites or Glossifungites. Maybe some of the specimens posted belong to different ichnofacies. What I could say with certainty, is that they belong to boring bivalves.

 

598fc09049a52_Unknownpossibleburrow.jpg.4239e0519d274496062d6da1099d18db.thumb.jpg.757e740ae1a9cb15db32b41613020e10.jpg59921c3562f33_TeredolitesFig.6.thumb.jpg.2ad3d0c1954bc515650d858302f8a8b1.jpg

 

gastrochaenolites_torpedo.thumb.jpg.12facc7da58708952c21b28519e10441.jpg

Gastrochaenolites

picture from here

 

" We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. "

Thomas Mann

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On 8/14/2017 at 3:14 PM, Carl said:

I'm 100% with Abyssunder.

 

On 8/14/2017 at 3:25 PM, Plax said:

boring clam (in other words I'm with Abyss and Carl)

 

On 8/14/2017 at 5:59 PM, abyssunder said:

Pretty nice finds, Chris, and good pictures! The shrimp burrows look like the nice one you've sended to me, and I thank you for that and for the other excellently preserved fossils. :)
I would like to compare the first specimen you've posted with the sample from  R. G. Bromley et al.1984. A Cretaceous woodground: the Teredolites ichnofacies. Journal of Paleontology, 58(2):488-498, because of the good resemblance, but I can't decide between the two types of ichnofacies: Teredolites or Glossifungites. Maybe some of the specimens posted belong to different ichnofacies. What I could say with certainty, is that they belong to boring bivalves.

Gastrochaenolites

picture from here

 

 

Thanks Carl/Don. Lori appreciate the additional info! You all have it nailed..good deal! Yep there are different facies represented with what I've collected. 

 

So I bounced the1st photos and these additional ones below off Roger Portell up at UFNat Hist Museum.

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He's confirmed they were made by Lithophaga the boring clam (aka in ichno taxa terms the striated one is Teredolites isp.).  I didnt see it originally but under some closer inspection of the others I noticed that in the smooth lined boring on the right you can actually see the culprit was entombed at the very top of it! He pointed out that you can see the internal mold of the clam (shell missing) and the lined borehole (probably one that bored into a coral which has dissolved away).

 

So Very cool! Thanks guys for taking a look and the help! 

 

Regards, Chris 

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