Mortichnia Explained

A mortichnia is the "death march", or last walk, of a living creature.[1] These are sometimes preserved as fossil footprints.

Notable examples

In 2002 the mortichnia of a horseshoe crab was found in lithographic limestone in Bavaria, Germany.[2] [1] The trail measured 9.7m and was left about 150 million years ago when the crab died in an anoxic lagoon.[1] The footprints left enough evidence for researchers to determine that the creature probably fell into the lagoon upside-down, righted itself, and started walking before succumbing to the anoxic conditions of the water.[1] The trackway is currently exhibited at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center.[3]

See also

References

  1. News: Fossil records 'crab' death march . BBC News . 6 September 2012 . September 7, 2012.
  2. Dean R. . Lomax . Christopher A. . Racay . 2012 . A Long Mortichnial Trackway of Mesolimulus walchi from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Lithographic Limestone near Wintershof, Germany . Ichnos: An International Journal for Plant and Animal Traces . 19 . 3 . 175–183 . 10.1080/10420940.2012.702704. 2012Ichno..19..175L . 55610538 .
  3. Web site: Final Journey of the Horseshoe Crab: The Longest Mortichnial Trackway in the Fossil Record . 2020-05-25.