Asteriacites

Asteriacites is the name given to five-rayed trace fossils found in marine sedimentary rocks (Mángano et al., 1999; Wilson and Rigby, 2000). They record the burrows of ophiuroid and asteroid sea stars on the sea floor. Asteriacites are found in European and American rocks, from the Ordovician period onwards, and are especially numerous in the Triassic and Jurassic systems.[1][2][3]

Asteriacites
Temporal range: Ordovician–Recent
Asteriacites lumbricalis, a trace fossil of an ophiuroid echinoderm; Carmel Formation (Middle Jurassic), near Gunlock, Utah
Trace fossil classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Echinodermata
Superclass: Asterozoa
Ichnogenus: Asteriacites
Mángano et al., 1999
Ichnospecies
  • Asteroacites lumbricallis Wilson & Rigby, 2000

Dense assemblages of Asteriacites ('Asteriacites beds') are considered proxies for marine settings, low bioturbation intensity, shallow tiering, high sedimentation rate and/or event-bed deposition, significant levels of hydrodynamic energy, and low predation pressure[3].

  • Asteriacites from the Devonian of northeastern Ohio; this trace was made by an asteroid echinoderm
  • Bedding plane view of Asteriacites from the Snapper Point Formation (Permian), New South Wales
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References
  1. Mángano, M.G.; Buatois, L.A.; West, R.R.; Maples, C.G. (1999). "The origin and paleoecologic significance of the trace fossil Asteriacites in the Pennsylvanian of Kansas and Missouri". Lethaia. 32: 17–30. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.1999.tb00577.x.
  2. Wilson, M.A.; Rigby, J.K. (2000). "Asteriacites lumbricalis von Schlotheim 1820: ophiuroid trace fossils from the Lower Triassic Thaynes Formation, central Utah". Ichnos. 7: 43–49. doi:10.1080/10420940009380145.
  3. Baucon, A., Neto de Carvalho, C. 2016. Stars of the aftermath: Asteriacites beds from the Lower Triassic of the Carnic Alps (Werfen Formation, Sauris di Sopra), Italy. Palaios 31. Abstract available at http://www.tracemaker.com


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