Fluvial Environments - Trace Fossils as Indicators of Sedimentary Environments - page 323

TABLE 1 Morphology of Trace Fossils Found in Fluvial Successions and

Ichnogenera that can be Included in Each Category—Cont'd

Category
name/
abbreviation Description Included ichnogenera

Q 4/3 Quadrupedal heteropodous,

tetradactyl manus, tridactyl pes

Stegopodus, “small heteropod
footprint”

Q triangular
4/4

Quadrupedal, tetradactyl,
homopodial, triangular sole pad,
oval digit imprints

Bestiopeda, Chelipus,
Pumaeichnum,
Pehuencoichnum

Chirotheriid
tracks

Quadrupedal, tetradactyl manus,
pentadactyl pes, resembling a
human hand

Chirotherium,
Brachychirotherium,
Isochirotherium, Synaptichnium,
Evazoum, Tetrasauropus

Sauropod track Quadrupedal, crescentic manus,
triangular pes

Brontopodus, Parabrontopodus,
“sauropod tracks”

Large
vertebrate
burrow

Large burrow at low to high angle
to bedding, showing bilobed
floor and convex ceiling, and/or
helicoidal path, and/or complex
structure (chambers)

Ichnogyrus, Daimonelix,
Alezichnos, Kladosystemites,
Polychoredrites, Katarrhedrites,
large burrow, burrow with
bilobed bottom, possible lungfish
aestivation burrow, burrow and
terminal chamber, platter
structure

Tetrapod swim
traces

Groups of three to five elongate
and parallel traces, that may or
may not be a trackway

Characichnos, Hatcherichnus,
Lunichnium, Chelonipus,
“swim-trace”

Vertebrate
coprolites

Roughly cylindrical mass of
sediment, with subcircular cross
section, inorganic inclusions,
one or more tapering end

Heteropolacopros,
Dicynodontocopros, “carnivore
coprolites”

Indentation
structure

Group of laminae with a local
concave upward curvature
covered by horizontal laminae

Footprints in cross section,
concave-up deformation
structures

Root structures Rhizoliths of different

morphology (e.g., shallow
networks, and taproots of
medium-sized plants and trees),
isolated or connected to others,
or to stump casts

Rhizoliths, stump casts
(including Socialites)

This scheme is partially based on Genise (2004) for insect trace fossils, other trace-fossil categories
adopted herein have been used in an informal way in the ichnological literature. Abbreviations for
tetrapod trackways: Q, quadrupedal; B, bipedal; 2/2 to 5/5, the number of digits onmanus and pes tracks,
respectively; digit morphology, sl, slender; tk, thick; st, stout; d, dot; pa, pace angulation. Triangular, oval,
and rounded refers to track outline. The column of “Included Ichnogenera” also contains informal names
when no ichnogeneric assignation was made in the original work. See text for further explanation!