Gastrochaenolites Explained

Gastrochaenolites is a trace fossil formed as a clavate (club-shaped) boring in a hard substrate such as a shell, rock or carbonate hardground. The aperture of the boring is narrower than the main chamber and may be circular, oval, or dumb-bell shaped.^[1] Gastrochaenolites is most commonly attributed to bioeroding bivalves such as Lithophaga and Gastrochaena.^[2] The fossil ranges from the Ordovician to the Recent.^[3] ^[4] The first Lower Jurassic Gastrochaenolites ichnospecies is Gastrochaenolites messisbugi Bassi, Posenato, Nebelsick, 2017. This is the first record of boreholes and their producers (mytilid bivalves) in one of the larger bivalves of the globally occurring Lithiotis fauna which is a unique facies in the Lower Jurassic Tethys and Panthalassa.

References

Bassi, D., Posenato, R., Nebelsick, J.H., Owada, M., Domenicali, E., Iryu, Y. . 2017 . Bivalve borings in Lower Jurassic Lithiotis fauna from northeastern Italy and its palaeoecological interpretation . Historical Biology . 29 . 7 . 937–946 . 10.1080/08912963.2016.1265956. 11392/2373090 . 132901459 . free .
Bassi, D., Braga, J.C., Owada, M., Aguirre, J., Lipps, J.H., Takayanagi, H., Iryu, Y. . 2020 . Boring bivalve traces in modern reef and deeper water macroid and rhodolith beds . Progress in Earth and Planetary Science . 7 . 1 . 41 . 10.1186/s40645-020-00356-w. 2020PEPS....7...41B . free . 10481/64249 . free .

External links

Gastrochaenolites systematics and diagrams (in German).

Notes and References

Kelly, S.R.A., Bromley, R.G. . 1984 . Ichnological nomenclature of clavate borings . Palaeontology . 27 . 793–807.
Kleemann, K.H. . 1980 . Boring bivalves and their host corals from the Great Barrier Reef . Journal of Molluscan Studies . 46 . 13–54.
Taylor, P.D., Wilson. M.A. . 2003 . Palaeoecology and evolution of marine hard substrate communities . Earth-Science Reviews . 62 . 1–2 . 1–103 . 10.1016/S0012-8252(02)00131-9. 2003ESRv...62....1T .
10.4267/2042/35594 . Early large borings from a hardground of Floian-Dapingian age (Early and Middle Ordovician) in northeastern Estonia (Baltica) . 2010 . Vinn, O. . Wilson, M.A. . Carnets de Géologie . 2010 . CG2010_L04 . 2014-06-10 . free . 2020-01-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200117064446/http://paleopolis.rediris.es/cg/CG2010_L04/index.html . dead .