Schoor & Donovan, 2019

Author(s):Schoor, D. I. E., Donovan, S. K.
Year:2019
Title:Extremes of Pit Infestation and Growth Deformity in a Crinoid Column, Permian of Timor
Journal:Ichnos
Volume:26
Number:1
Pages:16-19
Abstract

Crinoids are diverse and well-known from the Permian of Timor, but the literature has failed to document the numerous specimens of crinoid pluricolumnals from the fauna, many showing unusual morphology or yielding palaeoecological information. A curious and instructive specimen demonstrates the relationship between a living Permian crinoid and coeval invasive, pit-forming, invertebrates in detail. The pit-former is not preserved; most likely it was unmineralized or, if mineralized, then the shell simply dropped out. The infesting organism made pits assigned to the ichnospecies Oichnus paraboloides Bromley. The pit-former was unusually site selective. Either (1) one spatfall attached to just one side of the elevated (either up-current or down-current) or recumbent column and each individual centered their pits on the sutures between adjacent columnals; or (2) a single individual migrated along the column. The living crinoid showed an extreme reaction to this infestation. Excess stereom growth on the side of the pits transformed what was a circular column by addition of a thick, triangular ridge on the pitted side.

Keywords:Bioerosion, Crinoidea, Paleontology, Permian, Predation, Trace fossils
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/10420940.2017.1380007
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