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9 October 2020 On ex situ Ophiomorpha and other burrow fragments from the Rio Grande do Sul Coastal Plain, Brazil: paleobiological and taphonomic remarks
Giovana Pedrol de Freitas, Heitor Francischini, Frederico Tapajós de Souza Tâmega, Paula Spotorno-Oliveira, Paula Dentzien-Dias
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Abstract

The Rio Grande do Sul Coastal Plain (southern Brazil) is composed of extensive marine and continental deposits related to at least four lagoon-barrier systems of Pleistocene–Holocene age. Part of these deposits is currently submerged and passing through erosion processes by waves. Vertebrate and invertebrate body and trace fossils are constantly exhumed from these deposits and redeposited on the modern beach face. Among them, a total of 253 fragments of crustacean burrows were collected for this study. Two ichnospecies of OphiomorphaLundgren, 1891 were recognized (O. nodosaLundgren, 1891 and O. puerilisGibert et al., 2006), but most of the materials can only be assigned to the ‘SOT’ group (Spongeliomorphade Saporta, 1887, Ophiomorpha, and ThalassinoidesEhrenberg, 1944), mainly because of the lack of a pelleted lining. The absence of pellets and, as a consequence, the ichnotaxonomy of these specimens, is related to taphonomical processes (exhumation, reworking, and transportation) that acted during formation of the ex situ assemblage. The paleoenvironmental dynamics and a taphonomical model are presented to demonstrate how these processes affected the trace fossils since their construction, through exhumation until deposition. Neoichnological observations led us to infer larger producers in comparison to the extant ghost shrimp Sergio mirim (Rodrigues, 1971).

Copyright © 2020, The Paleontological Society
Giovana Pedrol de Freitas, Heitor Francischini, Frederico Tapajós de Souza Tâmega, Paula Spotorno-Oliveira, and Paula Dentzien-Dias "On ex situ Ophiomorpha and other burrow fragments from the Rio Grande do Sul Coastal Plain, Brazil: paleobiological and taphonomic remarks," Journal of Paleontology 94(6), 1148-1164, (9 October 2020). https://doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2020.29
Accepted: 16 April 2020; Published: 9 October 2020
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