The above photograph (SAM_0037) was taken of a loose specimen collected at Tackaberry’s quarry about three miles north of Perth. I believe it to be the trace fossil Helminthopsis, which has been described by Wetzel & Bromley (1996) as “Simple, unbranched, elongate, cylindrical tube with curves, windings, or irregular open meanders.”
I have been able to name the trace fossil Helminthopsis since the fall of 2012 when I noticed a nearly identical specimen displayed on a web page of the Miller Museum of Geology, Queen’s University at Kingston, under the heading ‘The Ediacaran of Canada’. Excitedly I sent an email to the museum curator with the above photo claiming that I had found the Ediacaran fossil Helminthopsis in Lanark County. Regrettably I received back an email telling me that this trace fossil cannot be used to determine the age but the environment.
Wetzel & Bromley (1996) mention that “Helminthopsis is a feeding burrow produced normally at shallow depth within sediment rich in benthic food.” Buatois, Mángano, Maples and Lanier (1998) describe it as a grazing trace while Mangano and Buatois (2003), describe it as a simple grazing trace. The Miller Museum of Geology’s web site stated that “It is generally agreed that simple burrows and trace-fossils (such as Helminthopsis pictured to the left) found in Upper Precambrian rocks were made by primitive worms. These worms... survived the extinction event and took part in the greatest evolutionary event in Earth’s history: The Cambrian “Explosion”.
A search on the internet shows that Helminthopsis has been recognized in many rocks aged Cambrian and younger. For Example, Helminthopsis has been recognized in the Fortunium (lower Cambrian) rocks of Iran (Shahkarami, 2016), Upper Cambrian/Lower Ordovician rocks of Newfoundland (Fillion, and Pickerill, 1990), early Silurian rocks of New Brunswick (Kim, Pickerill, Wilson, 2000), shales of Switzerland (Heer, 1877), the Carboniferous of Argentina (Mángano and Buatois, 20013), the Carboniferous rocks of Alabama (King, Stimson, Lucas, 2018) , upper Carboniferous rocks of Kansas (Buatois, Mángano, Maples and Lanier, 1998), Oligocene rocks (de Gibert and Sáez, , 2009), and Eocene rocks of the San Joaquin Valley, California (SJVG, 2019).
Christopher Brett
Ottawa
References and Selected Reading
Anonymous, 2019 (herein ‘SJVG, 2019')
Guide to Trace Fossils of the San Joaquin Valley
http://www.sjvgeology.org/geology/trace_fossils.html#helminthopsis
Buatois, L.A., Mángano, M.G., Maples, C.G. and Lanier, W.P. (1998).
Ichnology of an Upper Carboniferous fluvio-estuarine paleovalley: The Tonganoxie sandstone, Buildex Quarry, eastern Kansas, USA. Journal of Paleontology. Volume 72: 152–180.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1306686 [Helminthopsis hieroglyphica]
image at: http://www.kgs.ku.edu/Current/1998/buatois/fig19.html
de Gibert, Jordi M. And Sáez, Alberto, 2009
Paleohydrological significance of trace fossil distribution in Oligocene fluvial-fan-to-lacustrine systems of the Ebro Basin (Spain), Palaeo: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
Volume 272, Issues 3–4, 15 February 2009, Pages 162-175
doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.10.030
diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/101832/1/564340.pdf
Fillion, D. and Pickerill, R.K., 1990
Ichnology of the Upper Cambrian? to Lower Ordovician Bell Island and Waban groups of eastern Newfoundland, Canada. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists. Reprinted in Palaeontographica Canadiana. 7: 1–41.
Heer, Oswald, 1877
Flora fossilis Helvetiae. : Die vorweltliche flora der Schweiz . Zürich : J. Wurster & co., 182 p. LXX plates. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001996956 Page 116
Kim, Jeong Yul, Pickerill, Ron K. and Wilson, Reg. A., 2000
Palaeophycus bolbitermiius isp. nov. from the Lower Silurian Upsalquitch Formation of New Brunswick, eastern Canada. Atlantic Geology, volume 36, 131-137(2000)
https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/ag/article/viewFile/2016/2380
[Helminthopsis hieroglyphica, Wetzel and Bromley, 1996]
King, Olivia A., Stimson, Matthew, R., and Lucas, Spencer G. , 2018
The Ichnogenus Kouphichnium and Related Xiphosuran Traces from the Steven C. Minkin Paleozoic Footprint Site (Union Chapel Mine), Alabama, USA: Ichnotaxonomic and Paleoenvironmental Implications, Ichnos, An International Journal of Plant and Animal Traces,
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10420940.2018.1561447?af=R
Mangano, M. Gabriela and Buatois, Luis A., 2003
Ichnologic and paleoenvironmental characterization of the Orchesteropus atavus Frenguelli type locality, Huerta de Huachi, San Juan province, Argentina. Mar 2003Ameghiniana
AMEGHINIANA 40(1):53-70 March 2003 [Helminthopsis tenuis Ksiazkiewicz]
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285838111_Ichnologic_and_paleoenvironmental_characterization_of_the_Orchesteropus_atavus_Frenguelli_type_locality_Huerta_de_Huachi_San_Juan_province_Argentina
Shahkarami, Setareh, 2016
Ichnology of the Ediacaran–Cambrian transition: the Soltanieh formation of northern Iran and its significance for understanding the Cambrian Explosion. Doctoral Thesis, University of Saskatchewan. https://harvest.usask.ca/handle/10388/7699
[Four ichnozones have been recognized. Ichnozone I, containing Helminthopsis tenuis and Cochlichnus anguineus, is lower Fortunian based on small shelly fossils.]
Wetzel, A., & Bromley, R.G. 1996.
Re-evaluation of the ichnogenus Helminthopsis - a new look at the type material. Palaeontology, 39, pp. 1-19. [Free access]
https://www.palass.org/sites/default/files/media/publications/palaeontology/volume_39/vol39_part1_pp1-19.pdf
Wetzel, A., Kamelger, Achim & Bromley, R.G. 1996.
Taxonomic review of the ichnogenus Helminthopsis Heer 1877 with a Statistical analysis of selected Ichnospecies-a discussion. Ichnos 5(4):309-312 July 1998
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269829963_Taxonomic_review_of_the_ichnogenus_Helminthopsis_Heer_1877_with_a_Statistical_analysis_of_selected_Ichnospecies-a_discussion
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