A New Decapod Trackway from the Upper Cretaceous, James Ross Island, Antarctica

• Published in: Palaeontology
• Main Authors: Pirrie, Duncan, Feldmann, Rodney M., Buatois, Luis A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2004
• Subjects: Hidden Lake; Ross Island; Antarc*; Antarctica; James Ross Island
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0031-0239.2004.00343.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.0031-0239.2004.00343.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.0031-0239.2004.00343.x

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.