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A Possible Tracemaker for Arthrophycus Alleghaniensis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Victoria E. McCoy ,
Paul K. Strother  and
Derek E. G. Briggs
Victoria E. McCoy
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, P.O. Box 208109, New Haven, CT 06520-8109, USA,
Paul K. Strother
Affiliation:
Weston Observatory of Boston College, Department of Earth and Environmental Science, 381 Concord Rd, Weston, MA 02493, USA,
Derek E. G. Briggs
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, P.O. Box 208109, New Haven, CT 06520-8109, USA, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8118, USA,
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Abstract

Arthrophycus alleghaniensis is a well-known trace fossil common in the lower Silurian of the Appalachian Basin, eastern U.S.A. Despite the distinctive morphology of this trace, with few exceptions, hypotheses about the nature of the tracemaker have not extended beyond that of a long-bodied, segmented organism. A single organic compression of a long-bodied arthropod discovered in shale interbedded with sandstones containing A. alleghaniensis in the Silurian (Llandovery) Tuscarora Formation at Mann Narrows, Pennsylvania is described. The specimen preserves evidence of two trunk tagmata: an anterior tagma with tergites extending into broad, rectangular pleurae, and a posterior tagma bearing long, curved spines. Head and appendages are not preserved. The new arthropod, Pleuralata spinosa n. gen. n. sp., matches the size and general morphology required for an A. alleghaniensis tracemaker. Precise systematic affinities of this new arthropod could not be determined. This discovery supports the conclusion that the tracemakers of various Arthrophycus ichnospecies are likely poorly preserved, and presently unknown, members of the Ecdysozoa.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 86 , Issue 6 , November 2012 , pp. 996 - 1001
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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