Genus

Palaeosabella Clarke, 1921

Taxon description

Wisshak et al., 2019a

Macroboring; substrate calcareous; tracemaker invertebrate

Buatois et al., 2017

Category of architectural design: 2.66. Clavate-shaped borings.

Knaust, 2012a

Unbranched, cylindrical.

Taylor & Wilson, 2003

Remark: Unbranched, cylindro-clavate borings.

Buatois et al., 2017

Palaeosabella Clarke, 1921 is an elongated cylindrical boring with a swollen distal end formed in carbonate substrates. It is similar to Trypanites except for the clavate expansion at its termination. Palaeosabella has a complicated ichnotaxonomic history. It was considered nomen dubium by Teichert (1945), resurrected by Plewes (1996), Bromley (2004) and Wilson (2007), and erroneously considered a junior synonym of the later established Clionoides Fenton and Fenton, 1932 by Furlong and McRoberts (2014). We are here considering Palaeosabella a valid ichnotaxon because it does not branch like Clionoides.

Wyse Jackson & Key, 2007

Palaeosabella is a clavate boring with length-to-width ratio of < 10:1, and although morphologically different from Trypanites, the two ichnogenera have often been confused.

Selection of related publications
Nanglu, K., Waskom, M. E., Losso, S. R., Ortega-Hernández, J. 2025. A 480-million-year-old parasitic spionid annelid. iScience 28, 11, 113721. DOI:10.1016/j.isci.2025.113721
Villas, E., Mayoral, E., Santos, A., Colmenar, J., Gutiérrez-Marco, J. C. 2021. Annelid Borings on Brachiopod Shells From the Upper Ordovician of Peru. A Long-Distance Co-migration of Biotic Partners. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 9, 9:766290. DOI:10.3389/fevo.2021.766290
Hanken, N.-M., Uchman, A., Nielsen, J. K., Olaussen, S., Eggebø, T., Steinsland, R. 2016. Late Ordovician trace fossils from offshore to shallow water mixed siliciclastic and carbonate facies in the Ringerike Area, Oslo Region, Norway. Ichnos 23, 3-4, 189-221. DOI:10.1080/10420940.2016.1199427
Vinn, O., Wilson, M. A. 2010. Occurrence of Giant Borings of Osprioneides kampto in the Lower Silurian (Sheinwoodian) Stromatoporoids of Saaremaa, Estonia. Ichnos 17, 3, 166-171. DOI:10.1080/10420940.2010.502478
Beuck, L., Wisshak, M., Munnecke, A., Freiwald, A. 2008. A Giant Boring in a Silurian Stromatoporoid Analysed by Computer Tomography. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 53, 1, 149-160. DOI:10.4202/app.2008.0111
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Klassificering
Organism groupBiota
Ichnofossil groupIchnofossils
Bioerosional trace fossils
FamilyGastrochaenolitidae
GenusApectoichnus
Clavichnus
Gastrochaenolites
Palaeosabella
Speciesarrogarum
prisca
GenusPhrixichnus
Teredolites
References based on distribution