Xiphosuran Digging Traces at the Late Carboniferous Joggins Fossil Cliffs UNESCO World Heritage Site, Nova Scotia, Canada. Issue 3 (3rd July 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Buhler, Peter B.; Grey, Melissa
• Is Part Of: Ichnos. Volume 24:Issue 3(2017)
• Page Start: 179
• Page End: 190
• Publication Date: 2017-07-03
• Subjects: Carboniferous -- Digging traces -- Xiphosura -- Selenichnites; Ichnology -- Periodicals; Trace fossils -- Periodicals; 560.5
• DOI: 10.1080/10420940.2016.1244055
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1042-0940

Abstract

ABSTRACT: One hundred Selenichnites rossendalensis (excavations), sometimes with associated trackways, have been found at Joggins Fossil Cliffs (Nova Scotia, Canada; Pennsylvanian). The majority of the Selenichnites found in this study contain only one lunate cast and some are distinguished by linear ridges that project behind a single lunate cast. A detailed investigation of the morphology and orientation of these Selenichnites —attributable to xiphosurans, relatives of modern horseshoe crabs ( Limulus polyphemus )—yields an understanding of xiphosuran digging behavior. Statistical analysis of 96 lunate casts from two populations of Selenichnites separated by several hundred thousand years shows, with 99% confidence, that the prosomas (heads) of the younger population are smaller. Further study of the wealth of Selenichnites at Joggins will be useful to determine which factors control xiphosuran body-size changes and the timescale on which those changes can be seen manifest in a population. The smallest known Selenichnites (7 mm wide) is also reported.