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Burrowing trilobite caught in the act

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Abstract

A trace fossil associated with its assumed in situ maker, a holaspid specimen of the trilobite Agraulos ceticephalus (Barrande in Notice préliminaire sur le Systême Silurien et les trilobites de Bohême, Leipzig, 1846), is reported from the middle Cambrian Buchava Formation (Drumian Stage) of the Skryje-Týřovice Basin, Czech Republic. The ichnofossil is preserved on the surface of a mudstone, behind the posterior part of the intact trilobite exoskeleton; this natural association is interpreted as mortichnia. Possible mode of life and feeding strategy of the trilobite genus Agraulos are discussed. For the association of a fodichnion with its producer preserved in situ (atop, in, or at the end of its trace fossil), the designation fodichnial association is proposed.

Kurzfassung

Aus der Buchava Formation des Skryje-Týřovice Beckens (Drumium, Tschechische Republik) wird ein mit seinem Erzeuger, einem holaspiden Agraulos ceticephalus (Barrande in Notice préliminaire sur le Systême Silurien et les trilobites de Bohême, Leipzig, 1846), in situ assoziiertes Spurenfossil bekannt gemacht. Das Spurenfossil ist auf der Schichtfläche eines Tonsteins hinter dem posterioren Teil des intakten Trilobiten-Exoskeletts erhalten; diese natürliche Assoziation wird als Mortichnium interpretiert. Die mögliche Lebens- und Ernährungsweise von Agraulos wird diskutiert. Für die Assoziation von fodichnion mit in situ erhaltenem Erzeuger (oberhalb, drin, oder am Ende der Spur) wird das Terminus ‘fodichnial association’ vorgeschlagen.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by MSM 0021620855 (Material flow mechanisms in the upper spheres of the Earth), the Czech Science Foundation through Project No. 205/09/1521 (Feeding strategies in Cambrian to Middle Ordovician of the Barrandian Region).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Charles University, Albertov 6, 128 43, Praha 2, Czech Republic

    Oldřich Fatka

  2. Obránců míru 75, 261 02, Příbram VII, Czech Republic

    Michal Szabad

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  1. Oldřich Fatka
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  2. Michal Szabad
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Correspondence to Oldřich Fatka.

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Fatka, O., Szabad, M. Burrowing trilobite caught in the act. Paläontol Z 85, 465–470 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-011-0102-4

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