A petrified wood Brachyoxylon from the Lower Cretaceous of Bangoin, Tibet (Xizang), Southwest China

Yang, Xiaoju; Li, Jianguo

doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.105064

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 36 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Although fossil evidence of ophiuroids is abundant, their tendency to disarticulate makes meaningful interpretation of their role in ancient systems difficult (Kerr et al 2004;Ferna ´ndez et al 2019). In contrast, trace fossils attributed to ophiuroids are common and diverse (Yang and Song 1985;Wilson and Rigby 2000;Bell 2004;Schlirf 2012;Knaust and Neuman 2016;Belaústegui et al 2017;Feng et al 2019) and provide clear evidence of occupation of a particular depositional setting if the trace fossils are demonstrated to have indeed arisen from ophiuroid activity (Frey and Seilacher 1980). Trace fossil evidence can be used to analyze behavior of animals that have poor fossil records and would otherwise be overlooked in paleoecology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

AQUARIA-BASED OBSERVATIONS OF THE OPHIUROIDOPHIOLEPIS SUPERBAAND THE TRACKWAYS IT PRODUCES

MORTON

Myers

Gingras

et al. 2023

Palaios

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

An array of trace fossils have been ascribed to brittle-star behaviors including locomotion traces such as Biformites. Brittle-star locomotion has been well described but little work has been done to link modern brittle-star behavior to the trace fossil record. To draw this connection, a brittle star was kept in an aquarium and isolated in a “walking” tank with a fine glass-bead substrate. The animal was left in the walking tank for 30 minutes then the substrate was examined for traces. A digital camera was used to record the animal's movements and to document the resulting traces. Photographs were processed with photogrammetry software to produce digital models in order to acquire high-resolution images. Walking traces were described in detail and two morphologies were identified, which correspond with the ‘rowing' and ‘reverse-rowing' modes of brittle-star locomotion. Interestingly, traces similar to Biformites were not formed although some Biformites characters are observed. Morphological similarities include elongated lobate depressions and bioglyphs. Trackway dissimilarities include a repeating, paired, symmetrical pattern observed in the lab contrasting with Biformites that is often expressed as a texture of dense and overlapping, or isolated imprints. Another dissimilarity is the expression of bioglyphs in the lab as striae compared to the positive protuberances observed in Biformites. This study illustrates the utility of using actualistic observations to: (1) refine interpretations of locomotory mechanisms, such as rowing and reverse rowing, for a better understanding of walking behavior, and (2) to expand recognition criteria for ophiuroid (and other taxa) tracks in the fossil record.

show abstract