Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T17:38:57.376Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Sally E. Walker ,
Steven M. Holland  and
Lisa Gardiner
Sally E. Walker
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Georgia, Athens 30602-4303,
Steven M. Holland
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Georgia, Athens 30602-4303,
Lisa Gardiner
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Georgia, Athens 30602-4303,
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

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.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 77 , Issue 3 , May 2003 , pp. 576 - 582
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahlbrandt, T. S., Andrews, S., and Gwynne, D. T. 1978. Bioturbation of eolian deposits. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 48:839–848.Google Scholar
Alexander, H. G. L. 1979. A preliminary assessment of the role of the terrestrial decapod crustaceans in the Aldabran ecosystem. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, 286:241–246.Google Scholar
Behrensmeyer, A. K., and Hook, R. W. 1992. Paleoenvironmental contexts and taphonomic modes, p. 15–136. In Behrensmeyer, A. K., Damuth, J. D., DiMichele, W. A., Potts, R., Sues, H.-D., and Wing, S. L. (eds.), Terrestrial Ecosystems Through Time, Evolutionary Paleoecology of Terrestrial Plants and Animals. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Burggren, W. W., and McMahon, B. R. 1988. Biology of the Land Crabs. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 479 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carew, J. L., and Mylroie, J. E. 1995. Depositional model and stratigraphy for the Quaternary geology of the Bahama islands, p. 5–32. In Curran, H. A. and White, B. (eds.), Terrestrial and Shallow Marine Geology of the Bahamas and Bermuda. Geological Society of America Special Paper 300, Boulder.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chace, F., and Hobbs, H. H. 1969. The freshwater and terrestrial decapod crustaceans of the West Indies with special reference to Dominica. United States National Museum Bulletin 292, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C., 258 p.Google Scholar
Chamberlain, C. K. 1975. Recent lebensspuren in non-marine aquatic environments, p. 431–458. In Frey, R. W. (ed.), The Study of Trace Fossils: A Synthesis of Principles, Problems, and Procedures in Ichnology. Springer-Verlag, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cullen, D. J. 1973. Bioturbation of superficial marine sediments by interstitial meiobenthos. Nature, 242:323–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curran, H. A. 1992. Trace fossils in Quaternary, Bahamian-style carbonate environments: the modern to fossil transition, p. 105–120. In Maples, C. G. and West, R. R. (eds.), Trace Fossils. Short Courses in Paleontology, 5. The Paleontological Society, Knoxville.Google Scholar
Curran, H. A., and White, B. 1987. Trace fossils in carbonate upper beach rocks and eolianites: recognition of the backshore to dune transition, p. 243–254. In Curran, H. A. (ed.), Proceedings of the Third Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas. Bahamian Field Station, Ft. Lauderdale.Google Scholar
Curran, H. A., and White, B. 1991. Trace fossils of shallow subtidal to dunal ichnofacies in Bahamian Quaternary carbonates. Palaios, 6:498–510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ekdale, A. A., Bromley, R. G., and Pemberton, S. G. 1984. Ichnology, the Use of Trace Fossils in Sedimentology and Stratigraphy. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Tulsa, 317 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frey, R. W., Pemberton, S. G., and Fagerstrom, J. A. 1984. Morphological, ethological, and environmental significance of the ichnogenera Scoyenia and Ancorichnus . Journal of Paleontology, 58:511–528.Google Scholar
Fürsich, F. T., Flessa, K. W., Aberhan, M., Feige, A., and Schödlbauer, S. 1991. Sedimentary habitats and molluscan faunas of Bahia la Choya (Gulf of California, Sonora, Mexico), p. 5–51. In Fürsich, F. T. and Flessa, K. W. (eds.), Ecology, Taphonomy, and Paleoecology of Recent and Pleistocene Molluscan Faunas of Bahia la Choya, northern Gulf of California. Zitteliana 18, München.Google Scholar
Glaessner, M. F. 1969. Decapoda, p. R399–R533. In Moore, R. C. (ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Pt. R, Arthropoda 4. Geological Society of America, New York, and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence.Google Scholar
Häntzschel, W. 1962. Trace fossils and Problematica, p. W177–W245. In Moore, R. C. (ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Pt. W, Miscellanea. Geological Society of America, New York, and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence.Google Scholar
Hasiotis, S. T., and Bown, T. M. 1992. Invertebrate trace fossils: the backbone of continental ichnology, p. 64–104. In Maples, C. G. and West, R. R. (eds.), Trace Fossils. Short Courses in Paleontology, 5. The Paleontological Society, Knoxville.Google Scholar
Lockley, M., and Hunt, A. P. 1995. Dinosaur Tracks and Other Fossil Footprints of the Western United States. Columbia University Press, New York, 338 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lockley, M., and Meyer, C. 2000. Dinosaur Tracks and Other Fossil Footprints of Europe. Columbia University Press, New York, 323 p.Google Scholar
Paul, A. Z., Throndyke, E. M., Sullivan, L. G., Heezen, B. C., and Gerard, R. D. 1978. Observations of the deep-sea floor from 202 days of time-lapse photography. Nature, 272:812–814.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seilacher, A. 1992. Quo Vadis, Ichnology? p. 224–238. In Maples, C. G. and West, R. R. (eds.), Trace Fossils. Short Courses in Paleontology, 5. The Paleontological Society, Knoxville.Google Scholar
Sokal, R. R., and Rohlf, F. J. 1995. Biometry. W. H. Freeman and Company, New York, 887 p.Google Scholar
Walker, S. E. 1989. Hermit crabs as taphonomic agents. Palaios, 4:439–452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, S. E. 1994. Biological remanie: gastropod fossils used by the living terrestrial hermit crab, Coenobita clypeatus, on Bermuda. Palaios, 9:403–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, S. E. 1995. Taphonomy of modern and fossil intertidal gastropod associations from Isla Santa Cruz and Isla Santa Fe, Galápagos Islands. Lethaia, 28:371–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, B., and Curran, H. A. 1988. Mesoscale physical sedimentary structures and trace fossils in Holocene carbonate eolianites from San Salvador Island, Bahamas. Sedimentary Geology, 55:163–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willason, S. W., and Page, H. M. 1983. Patterns of shell resource utilization by terrestrial hermit crabs at Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands. Pacific Science, 37:157–164.Google Scholar