A eurypterid trackway from the Middle Ordovician of New York State

Palmichnium gallowayi (Sharpe, 1932) new combination from the Middle Ordovician Martinsburg Formation (proximal deltaic facies) of Rondout, near Kingston, New York State, is redescribed. It consists of opposing series of five tracks, the outer two large and pear-shaped, the inner three smaller and e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of paleontology 2023-01, Vol.97 (1), p.158-166
Main Authors: Braddy, Simon J., Gass, Kenneth C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Aquatic crustaceans
Arthropoda
Arthropods
Chelicerata
deltaic environment
Eurypterida
Footprints
Fossils
Gait
ichnofossils
Intertidal environment
Intertidal zone
invertebrate
Life cycle
Life cycles
locomotion
Marine crustaceans
Martinsburg Formation
Merostomata
Middle Ordovician
Molting
morphology
Museums
new names
New York
Ordovician
paleoenvironment
Paleontology
Paleozoic
Palmichnium gallowayi
REGULAR ARTICLES
Reproductive cycle
Rondout New York
Sedimentary facies
Sediments
Soils
taxonomy
tracks
Ulster County New York
United States
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Summary:Palmichnium gallowayi (Sharpe, 1932) new combination from the Middle Ordovician Martinsburg Formation (proximal deltaic facies) of Rondout, near Kingston, New York State, is redescribed. It consists of opposing series of five tracks, the outer two large and pear-shaped, the inner three smaller and elliptical, arranged in a chevron converging in the direction of travel, on either side of a wide medial impression. It is attributed to a medium-sized stylonurid eurypterid using a decapodous gait, crawling onto the shoreline, traversing the intertidal zone, a behavior interpreted as part of its reproductive life cycle. This provides the earliest ichnological evidence for the ‘mass-molt-mate’ hypothesis, which proposes that eurypterids migrated en masse into nearshore environments to molt and mate.
ISSN:0022-3360
1937-2337
DOI:10.1017/jpa.2022.72