The Trace Fossil Paleodictyon within The Cruziana Ichnofacies: First Record from The Devonian in Pennsylvania

Abstract

Offshore marine deposits of hemipelagic dark-gray shales comprising the Middle Devonian Mahantango Formation have yielded the first evidence of the trace fossil Paleodictyon from Pennsylvania. Paleodictyon occurs in conjunction with a diversity of largely deposit-feeding trace fossils belonging to the Cruziana ichnofacies, and documents another example of a shallower-water occurrence of this ichnofossil in Paleozoic rocks.

Keywords:

• Paleodictyon
• Mahantango Formation
• Middle Devonian
• Pennsylvania

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I thank Pat Lynch, Chief, Resource and Research Planning Division, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, for access to study and collect specimens. I also thank Rodrigo Pellegrini, New Jersey State Museum, where the illustrated specimens are housed, and Jeffrey Shreiner, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, for their continued support. I thank Jacob Benner and Will Heyniger. I also particularly thank Andreas Wetzel and the anonymous reviewers for comments that greatly improved the manuscript.