Species

Altichnus foeyni Bromley et Hanken, 1991

Taxon description

Bromley & Hanken, 1991

Diagnosis: Unwalled, vertical or subvertical shafts, the diameter increasing upward, giving offside branches having a morphology and orientation similar to that of the main shaft.

Description: Vertical to inclined sand-filled shafts in shale occurring in clusters. Secondary shafts branch off parent shafts. Shaft diameters increase from a few millimeters at the rounded base to more than 20 mm at the top; the maximum diameter observed is approximately 25 mm. Shafts are filled with sand identical to and confluent with that of the overlying cross-bedded set. Side branches curve immediately upward to follow the course of the parent shaft (Fig. 13B, D). No wall materials or 'bioglyph' (biogenic wall ornament) were observed. At the type locality the burrows may be densely crowded (Fig. 14), amounting to almost 2000/m2 . Few other trace fossils are present with A. foeyni, and these are indistinct and unidentifiable.

Type specimen data
holotype : Palaeontological Museum, Oslo PMO 121.530 , Voullenjoaski locality , Lower Cambrian (old nomenclature) , Dividalen Group
Synonymy list
1991     Altichnus foeyni nov. — Bromley & Hanken , pp. 268 , fig. 4A-D, 13A-E, 14
Classification
Organism groupBiota
Ichnofossil groupIchnofossils
Soft-sediment trace fossils
GenusAltichnus
Speciesfoeyni