Caupokeras badalloi, a new ichnospecies of impedichnia from the Lower Devonian of Spain. Palaeoecological significance

ABSTRACT

A new ichnospecies, Caupokeras badalloi, is here erected from the Emsian (Lower Devonian) Aguión Formation of Asturias, NW Spain. It is a bioclaustration structure produced by the host-specific symbiotic intergrowth of two host bryozoan species, Leioclema elegans and Loxophragma cf. leptum, and a soft-bodied modular symbiont, possibly a hydroid. The distinctiveness of this bioclaustration structure creates the need for a new ichnotaxonomic name. The settlement and development of the symbiont on living colonies of bryozoan hosts formed sets of tubes with terminal openings that do not occur in non-symbiotic bryozoans, thus modifying the normal growth of its living substrate. Consequently, C. badalloi n. isp. is considered herein as belonging to the ethological category of impedichnia in the absence of a universally accepted criterion on the status of bioclaustration structures. The diagnosis of the ichnogenus Caupokeras is emended.

KEYWORDS:

• Palaeoecology
• bryozoans
• symbiosis
• bioclaustration
• host-specific

Acknowledgments

Twelve of the specimens described herein were collected by the senior author in Arnao during 2017 under permits granted by the Coast Demarcation in Asturias (MAPA, Government of Spain) and the Heritage Survey (Council of Education and Culture, Government of the Principality of Asturias). Luis Miguel Rodríguez Terente (Museum of Geology, University of Oviedo) is thanked for access to specimens. Iván Muñiz (Museo de la Mina de Arnao) and the Council of Castrillón are thanked for their kind attention. The authors wish to thank Gabriela Mángano and Luis A. Buatois (University of Saskatchewan) for ichnological advice. Marcus M. Key, Jr. (Dickinson College), Olev Vinn (University of Tartu) and an anonymous reviewer are thanked for their helpful, constructive comments. Kevin Webb, NHM London science photographer is thanked for macrophotography and Covadonga González-Alvarez for graphic work.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they do not have any conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any funding from public, commercial, or not-for-profit institutions.