A stratigraphy of marine bioerosion

Abstract

AbstractAbout 65 ichnogenera and a number of bioerosional trace fossils that are unnamed are catalogued with respect to their stratigraphic ranges. In most cases, corresponding stratigraphic studies of the trace-makers are not possible because (1) the rank of taxonomic ascription is too high to be meaningful and (2) not all members of a high taxon are bioeroders. For example, radulation traces of chitons are known from Jurassic to Recent, whereas chitons have a body fossil record back to the Early Palaeozoic. Similarly, whereas the round drill-holeOichnus paraboloidesis known from Cambrian to Recent, the only identified makers of this trace fossil, naticid gastropods, range from Cretaceous to Recent. The stratigraphic ranges of bioerosion ichnotaxa emphasize the two marine revolutions of the Phanerozoic: there is marked increase in diversification during the Ordovician-Devonian interval and since the Triassic.