Criteria for recognizing marine hermit crabs in the fossil record using gastropod shells

1992 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 535-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. E. Walker
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Hermit Crab ◽  
Middle Jurassic ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Trace Fossils ◽  
Trace Fossil ◽  
Hermit Crabs ◽  
Biological Criteria ◽  
Stratigraphic Range

Hermit crabs have left a rich fossil legacy of epi- and endobionts that bored or encrusted hermit crab-inhabited shells in specific ways. Much of this rich taphonomic record, dating from the middle Jurassic, has been overlooked. Biological criteria to recognize hermitted shells in the fossil record fall within two major categories: 1) massive encrustations, such as encrusting bryozoans; and 2) subtle, thin encrustations, borings, or etchings that surround or penetrate the aperture of the shell. Massive encrustations are localized in occurrence, whereas subtle trace fossils and body fossils are common, cosmopolitan, and stratigraphically long-ranging. Important trace fossils and body fossils associated with hermit crabs are summarized here, with additional new fossil examples from the eastern Gulf Coast.Helicotaphrichnus, a unique hermit crab-associated trace fossil, is reported from the Eocene of Mississippi, extending its stratigraphic range from the Pleistocene of North America and the Miocene of Europe.

Coenobichnus currani (new ichnogenus and ichnospecies): Fossil trackway of a land hermit crab, early Holocene, San Salvador, Bahamas

2003 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 576-582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally E. Walker ◽  
Steven M. Holland ◽  
Lisa Gardiner
Keyword(s):  
Hermit Crab ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Trace Fossil ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Hermit Crabs ◽  
Coastal Environments ◽  
Atlantic Region ◽  
Western Atlantic ◽  
San Salvador ◽  
Left And Right

Land hermit crabs (Coenobitidae) are widespread and abundant in Recent tropical and subtropical coastal environments, yet little is known about their fossil record. A walking trace, attributed to a land hermit crab, is described herein as Coenobichnus currani (new ichnogenus and ichnospecies). This trace fossil occurs in an early Holocene eolianite deposit on the island of San Salvador, Bahamas. The fossil trackway retains the distinctive right and left asymmetry and interior drag trace that are diagnostic of modern land hermit crab walking traces. The overall size, dimensions and shape of the fossil trackway are similar to those produced by the modem land hermit crab, Coenobita clypeatus, which occurs in the tropical western Atlantic region. The trackway was compared to other arthropod traces, but it was found to be distinct among the arthropod traces described from dune or other environments. The new ichnogenus Coenobichnus is proposed to accommodate the asymmetry of the trackway demarcated by left and right tracks. The new ichnospecies Coenobichnus currani is proposed to accommodate the form of the proposed Coenobichnus that has a shell drag trace.

scholarly journals A review of the fossil record of non-baenid turtles of the clade Paracryptodira

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter G. Joyce ◽  
Jérémy Anquetin
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Middle Jurassic ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Late Jurassic ◽  
Feeding Strategies ◽  
Aquatic Environments ◽  
Taxonomic Review ◽  
Nomina Invalida ◽  
Nomina Dubia

The fossil record of non-baenid paracryptodires ranges from the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) tothe Paleocene of North America and Europe only. Earlier remains may be present as early as the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian). Only a single dispersal event is documented between the two continents following their breakup during the Cretaceous in the form of the appearance of the Compsemys lineage in the Paleocene of France. Non-baenid paracryptodires were restricted to freshwater aquatic environments, but display adaptations to diverse feeding strategies consistent with generalist, gape-and-suction, and hypercarnivorous feeding. Current phylogenies recognize two species rich subclades within Paracryptodira, Baenidae and Pleurosternidae, which jointly form the clade Baenoidea. A taxonomic review of non-baenid paracryptodires concludes that of 34 named taxa, 11 are nomina valida, 15 nomina invalida, and 8 nomina dubia.

New occurrences of Oldhamia and other trace fossils in the Cambrian of the Yukon and Ellesmere Island, arctic Canada

1994 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 767-782 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. J. Hofmann ◽  
M. P. Cecile ◽  
L. S. Lane
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Trace Fossils ◽  
Trace Fossil ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
Early Cambrian ◽  
Arctic Canada ◽  
North Central ◽  
Middle Cambrian ◽  
New Occurrences

Trace fossil assemblages from green and maroon argillites at 34 localities in the British Mountains and Barn Mountains of northernmost Yukon, and 3 localities in the Grant Land Formation of northern Ellesmere Island contain abundant Planolites spp., Oldhamia curvata, Oldhamia flabellata, and Oldhamia radiata, and rare Oldhamia antiqua, Oldhamia? wattsi (n.comb.), Bergaueria hemispherica, Cochlichnus sp., Didymaulichnus? sp., Helminthoidichnites sp., Monomorphichnus sp., Protopaleodictyon sp., and Tuberculichnus? sp. Additionally, 11 new sites in the Selwyn Mountains of north-central Yukon have yielded an ichnofauna including Helminthorhaphe sp., O. curvata, O. flabellata, O. radiata, Plagiogmus? sp., Planolites spp., and unidentified small hemispherical traces. All these assemblages are interpreted as Early Cambrian to early Middle Cambrian, based on comparison with Oldhamia-bearing ichnofaunas of similar age in North America, Argentina, and western Europe, and on archaeocyathids and olenellids in overlying units.

Spionid bore hole Polydorichnus subapicalis new ichnogenus and ichnospecies: a new behavioral trace in gastropod shells

2007 ◽  
Vol 81 (6) ◽  
pp. 1466-1475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Makiko Ishikawa ◽  
Tomoki Kase
Keyword(s):  
Hermit Crab ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Hermit Crabs ◽  
Selection Factors ◽  
New Criterion ◽  
Similar Site ◽  
Fossil Shell ◽  
Fossil Gastropods

Identification of tracemakers is of primary importance for evaluating the biotic interactions inferred from bore holes in fossil shell assemblages. Domicile bore holes in the subapical whorls of gastropods produced by spionid polychaete Dipolydora sp., supposed to be commensal with hermit crabs, are common in dead gastropod assemblages from deepwater habitats in the Philippines. These holes exhibit unique features and support a new criterion for the interpretation of nonpredatory borings in fossil gastropods. Diagnostic of these bore holes are: small circular to elliptical outer opening, the presence of weak dissolution of the columella beneath the bore hole, and the presence of a hollowed tube composed of detritus held together with mucus within some gastropod whorls anterior to the hole. The two selection factors of subapical whorls and elongate shells are supplementary criteria for recognition of these holes. Bore holes are recognized here in a deepwater gastropod assemblage from the upper Pliocene Shinzato Formation of Okinawa, Japan, and named Polydorichnus subapicalis n. igen. and isp. These holes are identical to modern examples exhibiting similar site and species selectivity. P. subapicalis has its oldest fossil record in the upper Miocene of the Philippines, was common in offshore assemblages from the Miocene onward, and is a good indicator of occupation by a hermit crab and for commensalism between polychaetes and hermit crabs.

Evidence from trace fossils

1985 ◽  
Vol 309 (1138) ◽  
pp. 241-242 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Marine Sediments ◽  
Trace Fossils ◽  
Trace Fossil ◽  
Fossil Evidence

I wish to emphasize the im portance of trace fossil evidence in studying the terrestrialization of invertebrates. Associations of trace fossils of arthropod origin are known from the late Silurian and Devonian non-marine sediments in the Welsh Borders, Scotland (Midland Valley and Orcadian basins), Norway (Ringerike and Hornelen basins), Spitzbergen, Appalachians of North America and Antarctica (Pollard et al . 1982, figure 15; Pollard & W alker 1984, figure 3).

scholarly journals New tyrannosaur from the mid-Cretaceous of Uzbekistan clarifies evolution of giant body sizes and advanced senses in tyrant dinosaurs

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (13) ◽  
pp. 3447-3452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen L. Brusatte ◽  
Alexander Averianov ◽  
Hans-Dieter Sues ◽  
Amy Muir ◽  
Ian B. Butler
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
North America ◽  
Inner Ear ◽  
Middle Jurassic ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Top Predator ◽  
Apex Predators ◽  
Body Sizes ◽  
Ecological Success ◽  
Giant Size

Tyrannosaurids—the familiar group of carnivorous dinosaurs including Tyrannosaurus and Albertosaurus—were the apex predators in continental ecosystems in Asia and North America during the latest Cretaceous (ca. 80–66 million years ago). Their colossal sizes and keen senses are considered key to their evolutionary and ecological success, but little is known about how these features developed as tyrannosaurids evolved from smaller basal tyrannosauroids that first appeared in the fossil record in the Middle Jurassic (ca. 170 million years ago). This is largely because of a frustrating 20+ million-year gap in the mid-Cretaceous fossil record, when tyrannosauroids transitioned from small-bodied hunters to gigantic apex predators but from which no diagnostic specimens are known. We describe the first distinct tyrannosauroid species from this gap, based on a highly derived braincase and a variety of other skeletal elements from the Turonian (ca. 90–92 million years ago) of Uzbekistan. This taxon is phylogenetically intermediate between the oldest basal tyrannosauroids and the latest Cretaceous forms. It had yet to develop the giant size and extensive cranial pneumaticity of T. rex and kin but does possess the highly derived brain and inner ear characteristic of the latest Cretaceous species. Tyrannosauroids apparently developed huge size rapidly during the latest Cretaceous, and their success in the top predator role may have been enabled by their brain and keen senses that first evolved at smaller body size.

Characteristic trace fossils in nearshore to offshore sequences, Upper Cretaceous of east-central Utah

1984 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. Howard ◽  
Robert W. Frey
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Trace Fossils ◽  
Trace Fossil ◽  
Interior Region ◽  
Fossil Species ◽  
East Central ◽  
Book Cliffs ◽  
Marine Facies ◽  
Wasatch Plateau

More than 20 trace fossil species occur in marine facies of the Cretaceous Star Point and Blackhawk formations in the Book Cliffs and Wasatch Plateau provinces of Utah. Major genera include Ancorichnus, Arenicolites, Aulichnites, Chondrites, Conichnus, Cylindrichnus, Medousichnus, Ophiomorpha, Palaeophycus, Planolites, Rosselia, Schaubcylindrichnus, Scolicia, Skolithos, Teichichnus, Teredolites, and Thalassinoides. Newly named taxa include Ancorichnus capronus, Medousichnus loculatus, and Rosselia chonoides.Most trace fossils occur in characteristic, albeit intergradational ichnofacies correlative with major lithofacies of regressive nearshore to offshore sequences. The latter include foreshore, foreshore–shoreface transition, shoreface, and offshore facies. Landward facies are typified by clean, well sorted, well stratified, sparsely burrowed sandstones. Seaward facies, except where interrupted by hummocky bedded sandstones, exhibit successively less pure, less well sorted and stratified, more intensely bioturbated, finer grained sandstones, siltstones, and mudstones.Characteristic ichnofacies and lithofacies in the Cretaceous of east-central Utah should provide potentially useful models for reconstruction of nearshore to offshore sequences elsewhere, especially in the Western Interior Region of North America.

In situ hermit crab (Anomura, Paguroidea) from the Oligocene Pysht Formation, Washington, USA

2020 ◽  
Vol 295 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-22
Author(s):  
Giovanni Pasini ◽  
Alessandro Garassino ◽  
Torrey Nyborg ◽  
Stephan G. Dunbar ◽  
René H.B. Fraaije
Keyword(s):  
Hermit Crab ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Hermit Crabs

An unusual fossil in situ paguroid hermit crab is here reported from the Oligocene Pysht Formation, Washington (USA). Paguroid specimens preserved within their host gastropod shells are rare in the fossil record. Only a few reports of in situ paguroid hermit crabs preserved within their host gastropod shells have been reported from the Cenozoic.

scholarly journals Trace fossils from the Lower and Middle Jurassic marginal marine deposits of the Sorthat Formation, Bornholm, Denmark

2003 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 185-208
Author(s):  
Richard G. Bromley
Keyword(s):  
Middle Jurassic ◽  
Trace Fossils ◽  
Trace Fossil ◽  
South Coast ◽  
Marine Environments ◽  
Salinity Fluctuation ◽  
Fossil Assemblage ◽  
Marine Deposits ◽  
Low Degree ◽  
The Baltic

The Lower to Middle Jurassic Sorthat and Bagå Formations of the Baltic island of Bornholm, Denmark, are a predominantly fluviatile unit. On the south coast of the island at Korsodde, however, an interval within the Sorthat Formation contains a diverse trace fossil assemblage indicating a marine incursion. Study of this interval revealed 15 ichnotaxa, among which one is new: Bornichnus tortuosus nov. igen. et isp. Several of the trace fossils present are generally considered characteristic of the lower shoreface to offshore environments (e.g. Teichichnus and Asterosoma). However, the low degree of bioturbation and ichnodiversity, and sedimentological features, indicate an environment influenced by salinity fluctuation, probably a tidally influenced delta. Five ichnofabrics are defined that describe this setting and which may be indicative of marginal-marine environments that are influenced by salinity fluctuations.

scholarly journals Ecological innovations in the Cambrian and the origins of the crown group phyla

2016 ◽  
Vol 371 (1685) ◽  
pp. 20150287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham E. Budd ◽  
Illiam S. C. Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Early Period ◽  
Trace Fossils ◽  
The Body ◽  
Trace Fossil ◽  
Simulation Studies ◽  
Crown Group ◽  
Relative Lack ◽  
Rapid Diversification ◽  
Body Fossil

Simulation studies of the early origins of the modern phyla in the fossil record, and the rapid diversification that led to them, show that these are inevitable outcomes of rapid and long-lasting radiations. Recent advances in Cambrian stratigraphy have revealed a more precise picture of the early bilaterian radiation taking place during the earliest Terreneuvian Series, although several ambiguities remain. The early period is dominated by various tubes and a moderately diverse trace fossil record, with the classical ‘Tommotian’ small shelly biota beginning to appear some millions of years after the base of the Cambrian at ca 541 Ma. The body fossil record of the earliest period contains a few representatives of known groups, but most of the record is of uncertain affinity. Early trace fossils can be assigned to ecdysozoans, but deuterostome and even spiralian trace and body fossils are less clearly represented. One way of explaining the relative lack of clear spiralian fossils until about 536 Ma is to assign the various lowest Cambrian tubes to various stem-group lophotrochozoans, with the implication that the groundplan of the lophotrochozoans included a U-shaped gut and a sessile habit. The implication of this view would be that the vagrant lifestyle of annelids, nemerteans and molluscs would be independently derived from such a sessile ancestor, with potentially important implications for the homology of their sensory and nervous systems.

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