Journal
ICHNOS-AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR PLANT AND ANIMAL TRACES
Volume 19, Issue 3, Pages 175-183Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC
DOI: 10.1080/10420940.2012.702704
Keywords
Mortichnia; Horseshoe crab; Large trace fossil; Upper Jurassic; Solnhofen Lithographic Limestone; Mesolimulus walchi; Kouphichnium
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A 9.7 m long trackway was discovered in a plattenkalk quarry near the village of Wintershof, Bavaria, Germany, in 2002. The huge ichnofossil derives from the Lower Tithonian, Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Lithographic Limestone. The trackway is complete from beginning to end and consists of footprints, telson drag impressions, prosoma imprints and is identified as the ichnotaxon Kouphichnium isp. Preserved at the very end of the trackway is a complete specimen of Mesolimulus walchi confirming the trackway as a mortichnia (death march). Trackways and trace makers preserved together in the fossil record are rare and such specimens allow unique insights into behavior and ecology. The events that led to M. walchi preserved in this sediment are unknown; however, a most likely scenario is that the limulid was washed into the lagoonal environment during a harsh storm.
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