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Chondrites
Classification
Phylum:
Trace Fossils and Problematica
Class:
Trace Fossils
Formal Genus Name and Reference:
Chondrites VON STERNBERG, 1833, p. 25 [non M'Coy, 1848]
Type Species:
Fucoides lycopodioides BRdNGNIART, 1828, p. 72 (=C. lycopodioides VON STERNBERG, 1833, p. 20); SD ANDREWS, 1955, p. 127
Images
(Click to enlarge in a new window)
Fig. 32,1b. Chondrites, type C, U.Ord.(Cincinnat., Whitewater beds), USA(Ind.); Xl.2 (Osgood, 1970) . -- Fig. 32,1c. C. bollensis ZIETEN, Lias € Ger.(Holzmaden); schem.(Richter, 1931). -- Fig. 32,1d. C. fureatus VON STERNBERG, flysch deposits, ?Tert., Aus.; X0.9 (Derichs, 1928)
Synonyms
Caulerpites, Sphaerococcites, Buthotrephis, Phymatoderma, ?Trevisania, Phycopsis, Bythotrephis, Nulliporites, Chondrides, Leptochondrides, ?Theobaldia, ?Aulacophycus, Palaeochondrites, Chondropogon?Prochondrites, ?Labyrinthochorda,
Geographic Distribution
cosmop.
Age Range
Beginning Stage in Treatise Usage:
Cam., Ord.
Beginning International Stage:
Tremadocian
Fraction Up In Beginning Stage:
0
Beginning Date:
486.85
Ending Stage in Treatise Usage:
Tert.
Ending International Stage:
Gelasian
Fraction Up In Ending Stage:
100
Ending Date:
1.81
Description
" Farm genus" in widest possible sense; plantlike dendritic patterns of small cylindrical ramifying tunnel systems; individual tunnels neither crossing each other nor interpenetrating (perhaps only between tunnels of different systems); one or few main axes open to surface; branching tunnels trending downward across bedding and then (at least their distal portions) mostly lying parallel to bedding planes; may branch in regular or irregular patterns (highly variable); angle of branching may also be variable or constant, between 25 and 40°; branches maybe arranged in pinnate or radial patterns or form compact groups; diameter of tunnels 0.5 to 5 mm., remaining constant within entire tunnel system; otherwise varying from large (e.g., "Buthotrephis" ) to small (most Chondrites); some tunnels with transversely built-in ellipsoidal pills (their probable fecal origin doubted); preservation of fillings of tunnels controlled by stratinomic factors; trace fossil nature convincingly proved first by RICHTER (1927a, 1931), though earlier NATHORST (1881a) and FUCHS (1895) had rejected the former interpretation as algae; producer unknown, perhaps worms. SIMPSON (1957) suggested sipunculoid worms working from fixed center on the surface of sediment and producing tunnels by an extensible proboscis; branching pattern may be affected by phobotaxis (RICHTER, 1927a, p. 218; 1928, p. 226; 1931, p. 302). [Ethological interpretation is still discussed but Chondrites undoubtedly belongs to Fodinichnia and is to be regarded as feeding structures of sediment-eating animals (Richter, 1927; Seilacher, 1955; Osgood, 1970) and not dwelling burrows of filter-feeding annelids (TAUBER, 1949; detailed studies of the ichnogenus would certainly lead to several additional " new ichnogenera"; some dozens of "ichnospecies" have been described but recognition of these within Chondrites very difficult (OSGOOD, 1970, p. 489); for historical account of many theories of the nature of Chondrites, detailed treatments, and literature, see especially SIMPSON (1957) and OSGOOD (1970, p. 328-331); for discussion and various reconstructions of tunnel systems of this form see RICHTER (1931, p.301, fig. 2), TAUBER (1949, p. 149-150, fig. 1,2), and SIMPSON (1957, p. 484, fig. 2).]
References
Museum or Author Information
Classification
Phylum:
Trace Fossils and Problematica
Class:
Trace Fossils
Formal Genus Name and Reference:
Chondrites VON STERNBERG, 1833, p. 25 [non M'Coy, 1848]
Type Species:
Fucoides lycopodioides BRdNGNIART, 1828, p. 72 (=C. lycopodioides VON STERNBERG, 1833, p. 20); SD ANDREWS, 1955, p. 127
Images
(Click to enlarge in a new window)
Fig. 32,1b. Chondrites, type C, U.Ord.(Cincinnat., Whitewater beds), USA(Ind.); Xl.2 (Osgood, 1970) . -- Fig. 32,1c. C. bollensis ZIETEN, Lias € Ger.(Holzmaden); schem.(Richter, 1931). -- Fig. 32,1d. C. fureatus VON STERNBERG, flysch deposits, ?Tert., Aus.; X0.9 (Derichs, 1928)
Synonyms
Caulerpites, Sphaerococcites, Buthotrephis, Phymatoderma, ?Trevisania, Phycopsis, Bythotrephis, Nulliporites, Chondrides, Leptochondrides, ?Theobaldia, ?Aulacophycus, Palaeochondrites, Chondropogon?Prochondrites, ?Labyrinthochorda,
Geographic Distribution
cosmop.
Age Range
Beginning Stage in Treatise Usage:
Cam., Ord.
Beginning International Stage:
Tremadocian
Fraction Up In Beginning Stage:
0
Beginning Date:
486.85
Ending Stage in Treatise Usage:
Tert.
Ending International Stage:
Gelasian
Fraction Up In Ending Stage:
100
Ending Date:
1.81
Description
" Farm genus" in widest possible sense; plantlike dendritic patterns of small cylindrical ramifying tunnel systems; individual tunnels neither crossing each other nor interpenetrating (perhaps only between tunnels of different systems); one or few main axes open to surface; branching tunnels trending downward across bedding and then (at least their distal portions) mostly lying parallel to bedding planes; may branch in regular or irregular patterns (highly variable); angle of branching may also be variable or constant, between 25 and 40°; branches maybe arranged in pinnate or radial patterns or form compact groups; diameter of tunnels 0.5 to 5 mm., remaining constant within entire tunnel system; otherwise varying from large (e.g., "Buthotrephis" ) to small (most Chondrites); some tunnels with transversely built-in ellipsoidal pills (their probable fecal origin doubted); preservation of fillings of tunnels controlled by stratinomic factors; trace fossil nature convincingly proved first by RICHTER (1927a, 1931), though earlier NATHORST (1881a) and FUCHS (1895) had rejected the former interpretation as algae; producer unknown, perhaps worms. SIMPSON (1957) suggested sipunculoid worms working from fixed center on the surface of sediment and producing tunnels by an extensible proboscis; branching pattern may be affected by phobotaxis (RICHTER, 1927a, p. 218; 1928, p. 226; 1931, p. 302). [Ethological interpretation is still discussed but Chondrites undoubtedly belongs to Fodinichnia and is to be regarded as feeding structures of sediment-eating animals (Richter, 1927; Seilacher, 1955; Osgood, 1970) and not dwelling burrows of filter-feeding annelids (TAUBER, 1949; detailed studies of the ichnogenus would certainly lead to several additional " new ichnogenera"; some dozens of "ichnospecies" have been described but recognition of these within Chondrites very difficult (OSGOOD, 1970, p. 489); for historical account of many theories of the nature of Chondrites, detailed treatments, and literature, see especially SIMPSON (1957) and OSGOOD (1970, p. 328-331); for discussion and various reconstructions of tunnel systems of this form see RICHTER (1931, p.301, fig. 2), TAUBER (1949, p. 149-150, fig. 1,2), and SIMPSON (1957, p. 484, fig. 2).]