![]() | This article includes a
list of references,
related reading, or
external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks
inline citations. (June 2024) |
Rhizocorallium | |
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| |
Bedding plane view of Rhizocorallium from the Snapper Point Formation ( Permian), New South Wales | |
Trace fossil classification
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Ichnogenus: | †
Rhizocorallium Zenker, 1836 |
Rhizocorallium is an ichnogenus of burrow, the inclination of which is typically within 10° of the bedding planes of the sediment. These burrows can be very large, over a meter long in sediments that show good preservation, e.g. Jurassic rocks of the Yorkshire Coast (eastern United Kingdom), but the width is usually only up to 2 cm, restricted by the size of the organisms producing it. It is thought that they represent fodinichnia as the animal (probably a polychaete) scoured the sediment for food.
The ichnogenus Rhizocorallium Zenker 1836 includes three ichnospecies: Rhizocorallium jenense Zenker 1836 representing straight, short U-shaped spreite-burrows commonly oblique to bedding plane, and only rarely horizontal, Rhizocorallium irregulare Mayer 1954 representing long, sinuous, bifurcating or planispiral U-shaped spreite-burrows, mainly horizontal, and Rhizocorallium uliarense Firtion 1958 representing trochospiral U-shaped spreite-burrows (definitions after Fürsich 1974).
![]() | This article includes a
list of references,
related reading, or
external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks
inline citations. (June 2024) |
Rhizocorallium | |
---|---|
| |
Bedding plane view of Rhizocorallium from the Snapper Point Formation ( Permian), New South Wales | |
Trace fossil classification
![]() | |
Ichnogenus: | †
Rhizocorallium Zenker, 1836 |
Rhizocorallium is an ichnogenus of burrow, the inclination of which is typically within 10° of the bedding planes of the sediment. These burrows can be very large, over a meter long in sediments that show good preservation, e.g. Jurassic rocks of the Yorkshire Coast (eastern United Kingdom), but the width is usually only up to 2 cm, restricted by the size of the organisms producing it. It is thought that they represent fodinichnia as the animal (probably a polychaete) scoured the sediment for food.
The ichnogenus Rhizocorallium Zenker 1836 includes three ichnospecies: Rhizocorallium jenense Zenker 1836 representing straight, short U-shaped spreite-burrows commonly oblique to bedding plane, and only rarely horizontal, Rhizocorallium irregulare Mayer 1954 representing long, sinuous, bifurcating or planispiral U-shaped spreite-burrows, mainly horizontal, and Rhizocorallium uliarense Firtion 1958 representing trochospiral U-shaped spreite-burrows (definitions after Fürsich 1974).