I have briefly mentioned Othenio Abel (1875- 1946), an Austrian paleontologist, in a few of my earlier blog postings. While Othenio Abel’s name is seldom mentioned these days he is credited with being one of the founding fathers of paleobiology, and his 1935 text ‘Vorzeitliche Lebenspuren’ is credited in both Frey (1975) and Knaust and Bromley (2012) with being the standard text on trace fossils for twenty years. Richard G. Osgood, Jr., (1975, page 8) mentions that “ The progress in ichnology at that time was synthesized in 1935 by Othenio Abel. His remarkable book, Vorzeitliche Lebenspuren, more than 600 pages long, covers both vertebrate and invertebrate traces as well as coprolites and example of osteological pathology in the fossil record. It was the standard reference work for more than 20 years.” Osgood also notes (1975, page 18) that “By the early 1900's, the fucoid debate resolved in favor of Nathorst’s ideas [that not all fucoids were plant or algae fossils but were traces of invertebrate organisms] as emphatically shown by Othenio Abel, the founding father of paleobiology .”
Over 260 Papers and Twenty Books
Othenio Abel was a prolific writer, authoring over 260 papers and twenty books. Many of Othenio Abel’s books– with the notable exception of ‘Vorzeitliche Lebenspuren’ – are available on the web from archive.org. The links are provided in the references below.
In the references I have included Ehrenberg’s (1978) article which traces Othenio Abel’s career and lists all of his works. I have also included Matthias’ (2011) paper which highlights Othenio Abel’s early papers on orchids and Abel’s transition from a biologist into paleobiology. If the reader looks at the titles of Othenio Abel’s papers in the list of references to this blog posting then one will find the early papers on orchids. Abel then transitioned to paleontology, with early papers on fossil dolphins, toothed whales and flying fish, before switching to fossil vertebrates. Matthias’ (2011) paper contains two points that one would not expect to see in a biography of a paleontologist: first, a failed assassination attempt on Abel’s life in 1932; second, the suggestion that if Abel had married the head of the Biology department’s daughter, then Abel would have been awarded a Professorship in the Biology department. Another point worth noting is that Abel published a number of works on ancient animals myths, customs and popular beliefs.
Summaries of Othenio Abel’s carreer can be found at Https://www.encyclopedia.com
and at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Othenio_Abel Worth noting is that the oldest university institute for paleobiology was established in Vienna in 1924 on the initiative of O. Abel. In addition, O. Abel founded the journal "Palaeobiologica" in 1927, which was published from 1928 to 1948.
Othenio Abel Coined the terms Lebensspurren and Paleobiology
Häntzschel (1962, page W178) credits Abel (1912) as the first to use ‘Lebensspur’ for trace fossils. The 1912 reference is to Abel’s textbook entitled ‘ Grundzüge der Palaeobiologie der Wirbeltiere’ [Basic features of the paleobiology of vertebrates] . Interestingly, this book is also credited as being the first reference to the term ‘Paleobiology’ (see Thenius, 2013) .
Here are the first references to the terms Lebensspur and Lebensspuren for trace fossils (1912, page 65):
“Lebensspuren fossiler Organismen.
Die Hauptquelle für unsere Kenntnis von der Lebensweise und den Lebensgewohnheiten der fossilen Wirbeltiere ist ihr Skelett, aus dessen Anpassungen wir durch Analogieschlüsse ihre Lebensweise und ihren Aufenthaltsort ermitteln können.
Immer muß die morphologische Methode in enger Verbindung mit der ethologischen Analyse die Grundlage derartiger Untersuchungen bilden. In einigen Fällen wird aber unsere Kenntnis von dem Leben der fossilen Wirbeltiere durch verschiedene Lebensspuren vermehrt, die sich in Form von Fährten, Wohnstätten, Fraßspuren, Nahrungsresten in der Leibeshöhle, Koprolithen, Embryonen, Eiern, krankhaften Veränderungen der Knochen, Anzeichen stattgefundener Kämpfe, Spuren des Todeskampfes usw. entweder an den Kadavern selbst oder in den sie
bergenden Gesteinen finden. Derartige Lebensspuren sind entweder eine wertvolle Bestätigung der auf morphologisch-ethologischem Wege erzielten Ergebnisse oder sie geben uns Aufschlüsse über Fragen, die mit Hilfe dieser Methode nicht gelöst werden können.”
https://archive.org/details/grundzgederpalae00abel/page/65/mode/1up
And here is Google’s translation (with a few changes) into English:
Traces of Life from Fossil Organisms.
The main source for our knowledge of the way of life and habits of the fossilized vertebrates is their skeleton, from the adaptations of which we can determine their way of life and their whereabouts by analogy.
The morphological method in close connection with the ethological analysis must always form the basis of such investigations. In some cases, however, our knowledge of life of fossil vertebrates is increased by different traces of life, which can be found in the form of tracks, dwellings, traces of food, food remains in the body cavity, coprolites, embryos, eggs, pathological changes in bones, signs of fights that have taken place, traces agony, etc. either on the cadavers themselves or in the rocks in which they are found. Such traces of life are either a valuable confirmation of the morphological-ethological results or they give us information about questions that cannot be solved with the help of this method.
Note that ‘Lebensspur’ is a German word that had been used as early as 1842 in a fossil context to mean traces of life (see Anonymous, 1842). Othenio Abel was the first to use it for trace fossils.
Lebensspuren References in Abel’s (1920) book entitled ‘Lehrbuch der Paläozoologie’
Also worth noting areAbel’s references to Lebensspurren in his (1920) book entitled ‘Lehrbuch der Paläozoologie’ [Textbook of paleozoology] which contains comments such as:
[page 6:] “Wurde die schützende Gesteinsschicht nicht durch eine starke Welle, sondern durch eine sanft verlaufende Woge über die Unterlage gebreitet, auf der die Tierreste oder Lebensspuren derselben, wie Fährten, Bohrgänge usw., lagen, so konnten unter diesen Bedingungen selbst solche Reste oder Lebensspuren fossiler Tiere fossil werden, die an anderen Stellen zerstört zu werden pflegen.” which translates as: “If the protective rock layer was not spread over the surface by a strong wave, but by a gently moving wave, on which the animal remains or traces of life lay, such as tracks, drill holes, etc., even such remains or traces of life of fossil animals could be found under these conditions become fossil, which are usually destroyed in other places”
[page 13:]Lebensspuren vorzeitlicher Tiere.
Stellen uns auch die körperlichen Reste der vorzeitlichen Tiere die Hauplquelle zur Erforschung der vorzeitlichen Tierwelt dar, so sind uns doch verschiedene Spuren ihrer Lebenstätigkeit und ihrer Lebensäußerungen erhalten geblieben, die uns in mancher Hinsicht sehr wertvolle Aufschlüsse vermitteln.
Zu solchen Lebensspuren gehören vor allem Fährten, Bohrgänge, Wohnstätten, Fraßspuren, Nahrungsresle in der Leibeshöhle fossiler Tiere, Freßplätze und Sterbeplätze, Koprolithen, Embryonen, Eier, krankhafte Veränderungen und Verletzungen, Spuren stattgefundener
Kämpfe, Anzeichen des Todeskampfes, Reste von Parasiten und Ansiedlern auf fremden Gehäusen, Fälle von Symbiose, kurz, eine große Zahl von Erscheinungen, die erst zum Teil ihre richtige Deu tung gefunden haben. Die Ermittlung dieser Erscheinungen in Verbindung mit der Erforschung der Lebensweise der vorzeitlichen Tiere und ihrer Anpassungen an die Umwelt bildet eine der wichtigsten Aufgaben der Paläobiologie
Google Translates this as:
Traces of life from ancient animals
While the physical remains of the prehistoric animals are the main source of research into the prehistoric animal world, we have preserved various traces of their life activity and their expressions of life, which in some respects give us very valuable information.
Such traces of life include, above all, tracks, bores, dwellings, eating traces, food rests in the body cavity of fossil animals, eating and dying places, coprolites, embryos, eggs, pathological changes and injuries, traces of what might have been struggles, signs of agony, remains of parasites and colonists on foreign housings, cases of symbiosis, in short, a large number of phenomena, only some of which have found their correct meaning. The determination of these phenomena in connection with the study of the way of life of the prehistoric animals and their adaptations to the environment is one of the most important tasks of paleobiology
Awards
In his lifetime Othenio Abel received a number of awards including the Bigsby Gold Medal from the Geological Society of London ( 1911), the Rainer-Medaille of the Kaiserlich-königlichen zoologisch-botanischen Gesellschaft in Vienna (1921) and the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal (1920), which is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "for meritorious work in zoology or paleontology study published in a three- to five-year period" (1922).
The Bigsby Medal was awarded to Othenio Abel by the Geological Society of London in recognition of his contributions to the knowledge of the Palaeontology of the Vertebrata, more especially of the Cetacea (marine mammals that comprises the whales, dolphins, and porpoises) and Sirenia (sea-cows).
Yochelson and Fedonkin’s (1993) References to Abel
Othenio Abel first came to my attention when I was reading Yochelson and Fedonkin ‘s ( 1993) treatise entitled ‘Paleobiology of Climactichnites, an Enigmatic Late Cambrian Fossil’. Y& F noted that “Abel (1935) provided the only photograph heretofore of an actual specimen of the oval impressions from Mooers;”, that “In 1925, Abel (1935:242) visited Albany, New York, and
examined the trails collected from Mooers, New York; he was the first to publish a photograph of one of those oval markings. ... He then considered in some detail the various notions which had been put forth as to the animal which may have formed the Climactichnites trails. Not only did he then decide that Climactichnites was of molluscan origin, like Raymond (1922), he was firm in his opinion that the trail formed by movement of a gastropod. Indeed, he suggested a shell-less opisthobranch, though he was aware of some of the problems in this interpretation. ... Abel (1935:247-248) emphasized Bulla-like gastropods forming a ridge on either side of the shell as they crawl forward.”
Otheno Abel’s Two Publications Mentioning Climactichnites
Otheno Abel mentions Climactichnites in two publications:
Abel, Othenio, 1926
Amerikafahrt : Eindrücke, Beobachtungen und Studien eines Naturforschers auf einer Reise nach Nordamerika und Westindien. [America trip: impressions, observations and studies of a naturalist on a trip to North America and the West Indies.] Jena: Gustav Fischer Verlag, 462 p., with 273 photos
Abel, Othenio, 1935
Vorzeitliche Lebensspuren. [Ancient traces of life.] Jena: Verlag von Gustav Fischer. 644 pages. With 530 figures .
Abel's Comments on Climactichnites in Amerikafahrt (1926)
This is a travel book, recording Abel's visit to America in 1925 to look at body fossils, trace fossils and rock formations. It contains spectacular black and white photographs of body fossils and trace fossils (for example, tracks from Connecticut and from the Grand Canyon).
In Amerikafahrt Othenio Abel only briefly mentions Climactichnites, but includes a photograph of the trace fossil (his figure 244 ) with the caption (my translation): “Fig. 244 Climactichnites wilsoni Logan - Upper Cambrian (Potsdam sandstone), Bidwell's Crossing, Clinton Co., New York. - Original plate in the New York State Museum in Albany. Photograph after a plaster cast in the paleobiological institute of the University of Vienna. About 1/9 natural size.”
The photograph shows two resting traces and two trails.
In Amerikafahrt Othenio Abel’s discussion of Climactichnites is just an aside to his discussion of the Devil’s Corkscrew structures. These were spiral shaped structures in Miocene age rocks found near Harrison, Nebraska that were known locally as the as Devil’s Corkscrews and were named Daemonelix by Paleontologists. They are now considered to be burrows made by the extinct beaver Palaeocaster. Abel devotes thirteen pages (382-394), seven photographs and one cross-section to the Devil’s Corkscrew structures. This is how Abel referenced Climactichites [my and Google’s translation]:
“The attempt to relate the stone spirals in the Harrison Beds to the devil is a counterpart to the interpretation of the strange and still not fully clarified Climactichnites (Fig. 244) in the Cambrian Potsdam sandstone from Bidwell's Crossing near Sciota, Clinton County, New York: On the farm of Mr. B. H. Palmer, a stone slab with these tracks emerged [2], which the owner viewed as Christ's footsteps with which he had trod the heads of giant snakes. When the paleontologists at the museum in Albany, NY, where the plate is now, tried to give the owner of the property a more natural explanation, the owner saw it as severe blasphemy and it took a long time to convince him that his Biblical Interpretation would be in serious contradiction with a natural explanation.”
Abel’s footnote [2] references three well known papers by John M. Clarke, Jay W. Woodworth, and Lancaster D. Burling on Climactichnites.
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Abel's Comments on Climactichnites in 'Vorzeitliche Lebensspuren’
In ‘Vorzeitliche Lebensspuren’ Othenio Abel devotes eight pages (242 - 249) and four figures (214, 215, 216a, 216b) to Climactichnites.
These are the translations into English of the captions to the three figures.
Fig. 214 Climactichnites wilsoni Logan - section of a large sandstone slab kept in the New York State Museum in Albany, which represents the pouring of the actual track layer, which consisted of a layer of clay. The elevations of this slab therefore correspond in reality to deepening of the track layer. At the ends of the two tracks are the oval prints of the dead animals that created the tracks. Potsdam sandstone (Upper Cambrian) from Bidwells Crossing, Clinton Co., New York.
– The photograph was made in Vienna from a plaster cast. – About 1/9 natural size.
Fig. 215 Much reduced partial view of the track bearing slab from Bidwell's Crossing (Fig. 214), on which lie numerous tracks which run in different directions and which have been described as Climactichnites wilsoni Logan. The oval formations represent the footprint of the animal that left the tracks, two of which are shown in Fig. 214. Four such prints are not related to tracks; I regard these oval prints as the foot-disc prints of those individuals who were thrown on the beach together with the others, but died immediately, while the other conspecifics continued to crawl further a shorter or longer distance, but then also died. The strongly pronounced cross beads (see also Fig. 214) stand in the tracks in such a way that the apex of the V-shaped figures formed by the cross beads looks in the direction of movement (in contrast to the arrangement of the ridges in Climactichnites youngi, Fig. 216). (after J.M. Clarke, 1905.)
Fig. 216 Track and imprint of the whole animal of Climactichnites youngi (Chamberlin) from the Upper Cambrian of New Lisbon, Wisconsin, North America.
A. Section of the track to show the peculiar sculpture of the crawl track, which consists of strong, only slightly curved cross beads and very fine, close-standing, more curved grooves.
B. The beginning of the track, which ends at its end (in the illustration above) in an arc shape, was such that the fine, tightly curved lines visible in Fig. A run concentrically to the arcuate end of the track; in the area of the upper part of this track there are no transverse beads as they appear in the lower part of the picture and in Fig. A. Figure B shows the imprint of the oval base plate of the animal, which moved on (downwards in the figure) from this point. The animal was probably put on the beach at low tide and crawled on from here; in Fig. 215, on the other hand, the oval ends of the tracks of Climactichnites wilsoni represent the respective ends of the different tracks, not, as in Fig. 216B, the beginning of the same (after L.D. Burling)
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Below is a translation into English of Othenio Abel’s comments on Climactichnites. Footnotes are indicated by square brackets surrounding the footnote number and the page number (e.g., [2-243]. I have also included comment in square brackets correcting the location of the first Climactichnites trail to Perth, Ontario from Beauharnois, Quebec. Abel’s is a different interpretation than that advanced by Getty and Hagadorn (2008, 2009).
Climactichnites – Very large, strangely broken tracks have been repeatedly observed in Upper Cambrian sandstones of North America, to which Sir William Logan (1860) drew attention and which he described under the name Climactichnites. The location of these tracks is at Beauharnais in Canada. [CPB: Should be Perth, Ontario, Canada.] Later James Hall (1889) reported the discovery of similarly designed tracks in the Upper Cambrian Potsdam sandstone near Porth Henry, Essex Co., New York. However, greater attention was first aroused by the discovery of a large slab with tracks in Bidwell's Crossing near Sciata, Clinton Co., New York, which was laboriously excavated and brought to the State Museum of New York in Albany, where I (1925), with the kind permission of the Director John M. Clarke and the kind support of my dear friend Rudolf Ruedemann was able to investigate this find in depth. [1-242] (Fig. 214.)
The sandstone slab exposed at Bidwell’s Crossing was 30 feet long by 10 feet wide. There were 25 tracks on it, the average width of which was 5 inches, and some of which could be followed for 10-15 feet in length until they ended in an oval, bowl-shaped recess (Fig. 215).
Sir William Logan [1- 243] had already tried to unravel the nature of these traces of life, and since then attempts have been made again and again to explain the origin of the climactichnites. Logan first suspected that these were creep marks from mollusks, and this conjecture, which was recently substantiated by Woodworth [2-243], is, as will be explained below, in fact to be regarded as the only possible explanation. Sir William Dawson (1862) had thought that it was a special form of trail for the Limulus type of track. In the same year, Jones expressed the view that Climactichnites should be seen as a flattened walkway of Crustaceans digging in the sand, while Grabau suspected in 1913 that the oval structures at the end of the tracks were collapsed living pits.
Still other researchers, such as Dana (1863), Billings (1870) and Packard (1900), advocated that Climactichnites should be seen as the trail of a large trilobite.
Gratacap had viewed Climactichnites as the trail of a great annelid in 1901 and this opinion was also taken up again by Walcott (1912) when describing a trail from the Upper Cambrian of New Lisbon, Wisconsin, which in its basic features, if not in every detail , matches the type of track from the Potsdam sandstone. This type of track described by Walcott also ended in an oval, sharply delimited figure.
Todd even drafted a description of the creator of this track and came to the conclusion that the animal must have had a rigid tail shield with bristles or fine spines and that the locomotives that produced the last impressions must be highly flexible and arranged in pairs so that each of the two feet must have been independent of the movements of his companion ...
If we now mention that several authors have assumed that these are traces of Eurypterids, a view that was discussed in 1912 by JM Clarke and R. Ruedemann [1-245], we have pretty much a collection of all imaginable attempts at explaination.
The first careful analysis of the trail was done by J. B. Woodsworth (1903). He was the first to attempt, based on a suggestion by Professor Walter Faxon, to establish the theory of the gastropod nature of the Climactichnites track. However, Faxon had thought that chitonids should be considered as the producers of these tracks. However, there can hardly be any serious doubt that the oval impressions, which can be observed either alone or at one end of a track on the large plate of Bidwell’s Crossing, must be regarded as the footprints of large gastropods. It seems incomprehensible that all conceivable attempts have been made to solve the climactichnites mystery, and it is probably only explainable and understandable because the tracks that can be seen on the sandy beaches of our flat coasts have not been examined and described with the desired thoroughness. Above all, the different tracks of the tropical flat coasts have to be described and carefully analyzed in order to create a better basis for comparisons with the many fossil types of tracks than can be the case with the limitation to life trace studies on the European coasts.
Since the discovery, recovery and description of the large track slab with 25 climactichnites in the State of New York in 1902-1903, only the find of Climactichnites youngi Chamb. (1912) described by Walcott and thoroughly discussed by L. D. Burling (l.c. 1917) , in the upper Cambrian of Wisconsin (Fig. 216) , suitable to arouse a special interest, since in this the parallel edge impressions of the footplate of the producer of this track have been preserved particularly clearly and sharply. It is particularly noteworthy that in this case the oval footplate impression, which L.D. Burling emphatically emphasizes, is not at the end, but at the beginning of the trail. Since Burling had dealt in detail with the question of the direction in which the apex of the V-shaped figure, which is formed by two corresponding transverse strips of the track, and since he had come to the conclusion that Climactichnites wilsoni Logan from the Potsdam sandstone of Bidwell's Crossing sees the apex of the V in the direction of movement; with Climactichnites youngi Chamberlain, however, the V-shaped transverse strips diverge in the direction of movement, so he saw in this a difficulty of analysis for which he could not find an explanation.
However, this difficulty does not seem to be unsolvable. Above all, we have to ask ourselves whether we can see a gastropod in the Climactichnites tracker who has a way of life such as B. Bullia, Nassa, Olivia, etc., i.e. whether it was a gastropod that not only used to crawl on the surface of the sandy beach, but also in the sand itself. Or whether it was a gastropod who led a nectonic way of life and only forced to crawl a distance on the beach, but then, perhaps with a renewed flooding of the beach, continued to swim with the flood again.
First of all, it must be remembered that, according to my observations on the sandy beach on the South African coast, the tracks that have been indented by sea snails are immediately completely blurred and destroyed, if the sandy beach covered by tracks is flooded again. Such tracks can only survive if they dry and harden with the entire layer of sand on which they were pressed when it was still damp, and if they are later covered by a protective layer of fine dust, blown across the beach by country winds [1-247]. Therefore, the end of a climactichnites, which is characterized by the oval foot disc impression, cannot be explained by the fact that the animal concerned swam away at the end of a track.
If, however, the animal cannot swim away, it must either have buried itself in the sand, or it has been removed from the surface of the beach by a predator or scavenger, or it has died on the surface of the sandy beach.
Since we now have sufficient knowledge of what places look like where snails have buried themselves in the sand, we can certainly include such a possibility for the end of the Climactichnites trail. The oval footplate impression, which represents the respective end of the tracks, as can be seen on the large sandstone slab of Bidwells Crossing, corresponds exactly to the extent of the footplate; if the animal had crawled into the sand at the places where the tracks end with the oval figure, a funnel with raised edges would have formed in these places,
but you might not see a recess that was just pushed in flat. The explanation of the conclusion of a climactichnites by digging in the producer of the track in the beach sand can therefore be out of the question.
However, if the Climactichnites trail had ended by the animals being taken away by predators or scavengers, any traces of these predators should have been visible on the surface of the sandstone slabs. That is not the case and so this explanation cannot be considered.
On the other hand, solving the whole problem does not seem so difficult when we consider the following. Let us imagine that at low tide a large number of gastropods were thrown from the waves onto the beach and remained there. We do not need to assume that they must have been gastropods with shells. The shell-less opisthobranchier group is probably very old and we have no compelling reason to believe that their presence in the upper Cambrian is considered impossible or unlikely for phylogenetic reasons. It is easy to imagine that the Climactichnites trail originates from a shell-less gastropod, which is similar to, for example, a Pleurobranchus [sea slug] or an Aplysia [sea slug], but without a shell, such as the recent Doridier from the group of Nudiabranchier. The Doridians are benthonic forms that can swim, but mainly move crawling on the seabed. Some nudibranchers are known to be able to move very quickly on the floor, e.g. B. Tehys.
If we keep in mind that the crawl trace of such a snail, which has been pulled on the still wet sand at low tide, could only be preserved if the surface of the sand quickly dried out and hardened in the sun's heat when the tide fell rapidly, so this consideration, it seems to me, also provides the answer to the whole Climactichnites question. If the snails crawled on the ground for a while after stranding, they could not do so when the sand started to dry.
We know that jellyfish that are thrown onto the beach on tropical flat coasts dry up to a thin, gelatinous mass and later dry out even more to a hardened mass after a very short time. An anologous process must also have occurred with the jellyfish that ran aground in the area of the lagoon beaches of the Upper Jurassic Seas in Bavaria. These jellyfish themselves have not survived, but the imprints of their bodies, dried on the beach in the heat of the sun, have been preserved in an excellent manner and with many details of the structure.
So it should come as no surprise that the carcasses of such a shell-less Opisthobranchier, which I would like to be the creators of the Climactichnites trail, have not been preserved; but the oval footprints of these animals mark the end of each track on the large sandstone slab from Bidwell’s Crossing.
In contrast, the Climactichnites youngi from the Upper Cambrian of Wisconsin described by Walcott, the beginning of which is indicated by the oval foot disc impression, on Example that a gastropod set on the beach was spreading his foot disk to full size, slowly advancing, whereby the rear edge of the foot disc emerged in concentric, semicircular grooves separated only by very small gaps on the surface of the very fine-grained and homogeneous sand, and when the locomotive continued to move, the foot disc performed contractions that appear on the surface of the sand through the transverse ridges and are separated by wide transverse channels. But the fine concentric arch lines remained, caused by the advancement of the rear edge of the oval base plate, preserved alongside the transversal ridges and gutters, so that the peculiar picture emerged that shows us the trail depicted by Walcott.
Climactichnites youngi may have been indented by a different gastropod than Climactichnites wilsoni, since the latter has a median groove in the track; however, we must not forget, that the track forms of the recent Bullia rhodostoma show an extremely large variability, which is due to the different degree of moisture penetration of the sand on which the animals crawl. It is therefore not absolutely necessary to use the differences mentioned between the two types of tracks to infer the artificial or generic differences between their producers
Footnotes - Translated
[1-242] R. Ruedemann told me the following about finding this tracked slab: When the strange traces on the surface of a sandstone slab appeared in Mr. BH Palmer's farm, the owner thought the large oval traces at the ends of the "ladder-like" tracks were Christ's footsteps with which he had trodden the heads of giant snakes. When the paleontologists of the museum in Albany, N.Y. tried to give the owner a more natural explanation, the owner saw it as severe blasphemy and it took a long time to convince him that his interpretation of the Bible would be a serious contradiction. So Jay B. Woodworth finally got permission to lift the slab. (See also: O. Abel, “Amerikafahrt”. Jena, G. Fischer, page 382, Fig. 244.)
[1-243] The literature on Climactichnites has been compiled and published by L.D. Burling in his study ‘Protichites and Climactichnites: A Critical Study of Some Cambrian Trails’ (American Journal of Science (4), Vol. 44 (the whole series 194), New Haven, 1917, page. 396-398).
[2-243] Jay W. Woodworth: On the Sedimentary Impression of the Animal whose Trail is known as Climactichnites. – New York State Museum, Bull. 63, Paleont. 7, Report for 1902 ( Bull. 314, June 1904, pag. 959-966). John M. Clarke: Fossil Trails at Bidwell’s Crossing. – Ibidem, Bull 80, Paleont. 10, Report for 1903, February, 1905 (Bulletin 330), page 18-20, Pt. 2 and 3).
[1-245] John M. Clarke and R. Ruedmann: The Eurypterida of New York. – New York State Museum, Memoir 14, Albany, 1912, Vol. 1, pg. 85, Footnote.
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/134207#page/91/mode/1up
[1-247] The fact that the same must also have been the case with the fossil snail tracks in the Greifenstein sandstone is shown not only by the cross-layering clearly perceptible in the transverse fractures of the track plates, but also by the surface of some sandstone plates from the grindstone quarries at Kierling in the Viennese forest (Fig. 208).
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I found that the following brief explanations helped my understanding.
Bullia rhodostoma is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk
Nekton or necton refers to the aggregate of actively swimming aquatic organisms in a body of water. The term was proposed by German biologist Ernst Haeckel to differentiate between the active swimmers in a body of water, and the passive organisms that were carried along by the current, the plankton. (See Wikipedia)
Pleurobranchus is a genus of sea slugs, marine gastropod molluscs
Aplysia is a genus of medium-sized to extremely large sea slugs
Doridoidea - are a taxonomic superfamily of medium to large, shell-less sea slugs, marine gastropod mollusks
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Christopher Brett
Ottawa, Ontario
References and Selected Reading
[The early references to Othenio Abel’s papers on orchids are from Matthias, 2011. For a complete list of Othenio Abel’s papers see Ehrenberg, 1978 ]
Abel, O. , 1896
Die Befruchtung der Orchideen durch Insecten. [The fertilization of the orchids by insects] Der Stein der Weisen, 8, Heft 5 [in Bd . 15]: 129 134.
Abel, O. , 1897a
Die Orchideen in Sage und Geschic hte. [The orchids in legend and history] Der Stein der Weisen, 9, Heft 12 [in Bd. 17]: 357 360.
Abel, O. , 1897b
Einige neue Monstrositäten bei Orchideenblüthen [Some monstrosities in orchid flowers] (Ophrys aranifera Huds. und Orchis coriophora L.). Verhandlungen der kaiserlich königlichen zool ogisch botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien, 47: 415 420.
Abel, O. , 1897c
Ein Urwald Mitteleuropas zur Tertiärzeit. [A primeval forest in Central Europe during the tertiary period] Der Stein der Weisen, 9, Heft 17 [in Bd. 18]:
132 138.
Abel, O. , 1897d
Zwei für Niederösterreich neue hybride Orchideen [Two new hybrid orchids for Lower Austria] (GymnadeniaWettsteiniana m. und Gymnadenia Strampfii Aschers.). Verhandlungen der kaiserlich königlich en zoologisch botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien, 47: 609 615.
Abel, O. , 1898e
Der Wasserleitungsstollen der Stadt Eggenburg. Ein Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Gauderndorfer Schichten. [The city of Eggenburg's aqueduct. A contribution to the knowledge of the Gauderndorf layers] Verhandlungen der k. k. geologischen Reichsanstalt, 1898 (14): 301 312. https://www.zobodat.at/pdf/SBAWW_109_0859-0924.pdf
Abel, O., 1898f
Studien in den Tertiärbildungen von Eggenburg. [Studies in the Tertiary of Eggenburg.] Beiträge zur Paläontologie und Geologie Österreich Ungarns und des Orients, 11: 211 226. https://docplayer.org/112865827-Den-tertiaerbildungen-von-eggenburg.html
Abel, Othenio, 1898g
Ueber einige Ophrydeen [About some ideas]
Abel, O. , 1899a
Einige Worte über die Entstehung der Hochmure des Ferschbachthales im Ober Pinzgau. [A few words about the origin of the floodplain of the Ferschbach Valley in Ober Pinzgau] Verhandlungen der k. k. geologischen Reichsanstalt, 1899 (11/12): 296 297.
https://www.zobodat.at/pdf/VerhGeolBundesanstalt_1899_0296-0297.pdf
Othenio Abel, 1899b
Studien im Klippengebiete zwischen Donau und Thaya: I. Pollau - Schweinbarth; (Aufnahmsbericht) [Studies in the cliff area between Danube and Thaya: I. Pollau - Schweinbarth; (Recording report)] [cephalopods, ammonites, and other fossils in limestones and dolomite] – Verhandlungen der Geologischen Bundesanstalt – 1899: 284 - 287.
https://www.zobodat.at/pdf/VerhGeolBundesanstalt_1899_0284-0287.pdf
Othenio Abel, 1899c
Die Beziehungen des Klippengebietes zwischen Donau und Thaya zum alpin-karpathischen Gebirgssysteme [The relationship of the cliff area between Danube and Thaya to the alpine-Carpathian mountain system]– Verhandlungen der Geologischen Bundesanstalt – 1899: 374 - 381. https://www.zobodat.at/pdf/VerhGeolBundesanstalt_1899_0374-0381.pdf
Abel, O., 1900
Mittheilung über Studien an Orchis angustifolia Rchbch. (O. Traunsteineri Saut.) von Zell am See in Salzburg und über einige andere Orchideen aus dem Pinzgau. [Communication about studies on Orchis angustifolia Rchbch. (O. Traunsteineri Saut.) From Zell am See in Salzburg and about some other orchids from the Pinzgau] Verhandlungen der kaiserlich königlichen zoologisch botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien, 50: 57 58.
Abel, Othenio, 1901a
Les dauphins longirostres du boldérien (miocène supérieur) des environs d'Anvers [Longirostra dolphins from the Bolderian period (upper Miocene) around Antwerp] Bruxelles: Polleunis & Ceuterick, imprimeurs. 95 pages plus 10 plates.
https://archive.org/details/lesdauphinslongi01abel
Abel, Othenio, 1901b
Zwei neue Menschenaffen aus den Leitha-kalkbildungen des Wiener Beckens [Two new great apes from the Leitha limestone formations of the Vienna Basin] 1171-1207
https://archive.org/details/biostor-222013
Abel, Othenio, 1901c
Die Ursache der Asymmetrie des Zahnwalschädels [The cause of the asymmetry of the toothed whale skull] 511-526
https://archive.org/details/biostor-221988
Abel, Othenio, 1904
Über einen Fund von Sivatherium giganteum bei Adrianopel [About a find of Sivatherium giganteum (an extinct genus of giraffids– mammals that share a common ancestor with cervids and bovids) near Adrianople] 629-651
https://archive.org/details/biostor-220765
Abel, Othenio, 1905
Les odontocètes du Boldérien (miocène supérieur) d'Anvers. [The odontocetes (toothed whales) of the Bolderian (Upper Miocene) of Antwerp.] Bruxelles: Polleunis & Ceuterick, imprimeurs, 155 pages https://archive.org/details/lesodontoctesd00abel
Abel, Othenio, 1906
Fossile Flugfische [Fossil flying fish] . Vienna: Self-published by the author. 88 pages plus plates https://archive.org/details/FossileFlugfisc00n
Abel, Othenio, 1906
Die Milchmolaren der Sirenen [The milk molars of the sirenians (Mammalia; Dugongidae- sea cows)]. Separate imprint from Neuen Jahrbuch Für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie. Stuttgart: E. Schweizergart’sche Verlagshandlung, pages 50-60 https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_SFErAAAAYAAJ
Abel, Othenio, 1907
Die Morphologie der Hüftbeinrudimente der Cetaceen [The morphology of the femoral rudiments of the cetaceans (aquatic mammals)] . Vienna: K.K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei : In Kommission bei A. Hölder . 57 pages
https://archive.org/details/diemorphologiede00abel/page/52/mode/2up
Abel, Othenio, 1907
Der Anpassungstypus von Metriorhynchus [The adaptation type of Metriorhynchus (an extinct genus of marine crocodyliform that lived in the oceans during the Late Jurassic)]. Separate imprint from Centralblatt Für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie. Stuttgart: E. Schweizergart’sche Verlagshandlung, pages 225 -235
https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_QSstAAAAYAAJ
Abel, Othenio, 1908
Angriffswaffen und verteidigungsmittel fossiler Wirbeltiere [Weapons of attack and defensive means of fossil vertebrates], pages 207- 217
https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_SVErAAAAYAAJ/page/n5/mode/2up
Abel, Othenio, 1908
Neuere Studien über die Systematik und Stammesgeschichte der Halbaffen und über den Fund eines angeblichen Vorfahren des menschen in Südamerika [Recent studies on the systematics and tribal history of the half-apes and on the finding of an alleged ancestor of man in South America]
Separate Imprint , “Verhandlungen" der k. k. zoologisch-botanischen Gesellschaft in Vienna (1908) pages 35-38 https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_SlErAAAAYAAJ
Abel, Othenio 1909
Cetaceenstudien. I. Mitteilung: Das Skelett von Eurhinodelphis Cocheteuxi aus dem Obermiozän von Antwerpen [Cetacean Studies. Part I: The skeleton of Eurhinodelphis Cocheteuxi from the Upper Miocene of Antwerp] 241-253
https://archive.org/details/biostor-220834
Abel, Othenio, 1909
Cetaceenstudien. II. Mitteilung: Der Schädel von Saurodelphis argentinus aus dem Pliozän Argentiniens [Cetacean Studies. Part II: The skull of Saurodelphis argentinus from the Pliocene of Argentina] 255-272
https://archive.org/details/sbaww_118_0255-0272
Abel, Othenio, 1909
Konvergenz und Deszendenz. - Verhandlungen der zoologisch-botanische Gesellschaft zu Wien Wien, 1909, Wien.
Abel, Othenio, 1909
Bau und Geschichte der Erde. [Construction and history of the earth] Vienna: F. Tempsky ; 1909. 220 p.
Abel, O. , 1910
Was ist eine Monstrosität?. [What is a monstrosity?] Verhandlungen der kaiserlich königlichen zoologisch botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien, 60: (129) (150).
Reviewed: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23652640
Abel, Othenio, 1910
Über die allgemeinen Prinzipien der paläontologischen Rekonstruktion.[About the general principles of paleontological reconstruction] - Verhandlungen der zoologisch-botanische Gesellschaft zu Wien LX (1910): 141–46
Abel, Othenio, 1910
Kritische Untersuchungen über die paläogenen Rhinocerotiden Europas. [Critical studies on the paleogenic rhinocerotids of Europe.] Abhandlungen der Geologische Reichsanstall . Wien, IX. Bd., 20, H. 3, 1-52, 2 Taf., Wien.
https://www.zobodat.at/pdf/AbhGeolBA_20_0001-0052.pdf
Abel, Othenio, 1910
Die Rekonstruktion des Diplodocus." Abhandlungen der K.K. Zoologisch-botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien 5 (1910) https://www.zobodat.at/pdf/AZBG_5_3_0001-0060.pdf
Abel, Othenio, 1910
Die Vorfahren der Vögel und ihre Lebensweise. [The ancestors of birds and their way of life.]- Verh. k. k. Zool.-Bot. Ges. Wien, 1910, Wien [both Lebens and Spuren but not together]
https://www.zobodat.at/pdf/VZBG_61_0144-0191.pdf
Abel, Othenio, 1912
Grundzüge der Palaeobiologie der Wirbeltiere [Basic features of the paleobiology of vertebrates]
Stuttgart, E. Schweizerbart . 708 pages
https://archive.org/details/grundzgederpalae00abel
Abel, Othenio, 1914a
Die vorzeitlichen säugetiere [The ancient mammals]. Jena: G. Fischer 309 page
Abel, Othenio, 1914b
Die Tiere der Vorwelt, [The animals of the past] Leipzig, Berlin: B.G. Teubner, 88 pages https://archive.org/details/dietieredervorw00abelgoog
Abel, O. , 1914c
Atavismus. [Atavism: a tendency to revert to something ancient or ancestral.] Verhandlungen der kai serlich königlichen zoologisch botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien, 64: (31) (50).
Abel, O. , 1914d
Orimente und Rudimente. [Oriments and rudiments; an early work on paleobiology ] Mitteilungen des naturwissenschaftlichen Vereines an der Universität Wien, 12 (4/6): 79 82. https://www.zobodat.at/pdf/MNVUniWien_12_0079-0082.pdf
Abel, Othenio, 1916
Paläobiologie der Cephalopoden aus der Gruppe der Dibranchiaten [Paleobiology of the cephalopods from the group of the Dibranchiaten]
Jena : Gustav Fischer , 281 pages https://archive.org/details/palobiologiede00abel
Abel, Othenio, 1919
Die Stämme der Wirbeltiere [The Vertebrate Classes]
Berlin und Leipzig: Walter de Gruyter & Co. 896 pages
https://archive.org/details/diestmmederwir00abel
Abel, Othenio, 1920
Lehrbuch der Paläozoologie [Textbook of paleozoology] Jena: G. Fischer. 500 pages https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_rCBCAAAAIAAJ
Abel, Othenio, 1921
Allgemeine Paläontologie [General paleontology] Walter de Gruyter, 1921 - 149 pages
Abel, Othenio, 1921
Lebensbilder aus der Tierwelt der Vorzeit. Jena 1921 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.61701
Abel, Othenio, 1922
Lebensbilder aus der Tierwelt der Vorzeit [Life pictures from the animal world of the past]
Jena: Verlag von G. Fischer . 643 pages
https://archive.org/details/lebensbilderausd00abel/page/414/mode/2up
Abel, Othenio, 1923
Die vorweltlichen Tiere in Märchen, Sage und Aberglauben [The pre-world animals in fairy tales, sagas and superstitions] Baden: G. Braun. 66 pages plus plates
https://archive.org/details/vorweltlichentier00
Abel, Othenio, 1925
Geschichte und Methode der Rekonstruktion vorzeitlicher Wirbeltiere. [History and method of reconstruction of ancient vertebrates] Jena 1925
Abel, Othenio, 1926
Amerikafahrt : Eindrücke, Beobachtungen und Studien eines Naturforschers auf einer Reise nach Nordamerika und Westindien.
Jena: Gustav Fischer Verlag, 462 p., mit 273 Fotos
Abel, Othenio, 1928
Allognathosuchus, ein an die cheloniphage Nahrungsweise angepaßter Krokodiltypus des nordamerikanischen Eozäns. - Paläont. Z., 9.
Abel, Othenio, 1929
Paläobiologie und Stammesgeschichte. [Paleobiology and Tribal History.] Jena 1929, 423 pages
Abel, Othenio, 1931
Die Stellung des Menschen im Rahmen der Wirbeltiere. [The position of man in the context of vertebrates] 1931
Abel, Othenio, 1935
Vorzeitliche Lebensspuren. [Prehistoric Traces of Life] Jena: Verlag von Gustav Fischer. 644 pages. With 530 illustrations, photographs, figures
Abel, Othenio, 1939
Die Tiere der Vorzeit in ihrem Lebensraum. [The animals of the past in their habitat] Jena 1939 335 pages
Abel, Othenio, 1939
Vorzeitliche Tierreste im Deutschen Mythus, Brauchtum und Volksglauben. [Ancient animal remains in German myths, customs and popular beliefs.] Jena 1939
Anonymous, 1842
Einleitungsrede des zweiten Geschäftsführers. [Introductory speech by the second managing director] Amtlicher Bericht über die Versammlung Deutscher Naturforscher und Aerzte. [Official report on the gathering of German natural scientists and doctors] Vol 18, 19, 1842 https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/41163#page/310/mode/1up
Page 29 Unzähliges, was man noch vor wenigen Jahrzehn den todt nannte, worin man eine Lebensspur weder vergangen noch gegenwärtig zu entdecken vermochte, was man dem Reiche beizählte, in welchem jedes Leben, jede Organisation vermifst wird, besteht aus Myriaden thierischer Geschöpfe, deren Entdeckung anderen Untersuchungen, als den bisherigen der Chemiker aufbehalten war. . So hat denn Alles gelebt und lebt theiis noch, was uns als Fels umgiebt, oder als loses Gestein und Erd' und Mergel noch so unscheinbar sich unseren Blicken entzieht; nichts giebt's, was nicht selbstsländig gewirkt, ja es wird vielleicht nichts mehr die Zukunft für unorganisch erklären, sondern im ganzen Weltall ein Leben, ja ein reges Leben, oder doch ein überstandenes, wahrneh-men und betrachten
[Translation:] Countless things that a few decades ago were called death, in which a trace of life was neither past nor present to be discovered, what was attributed to the realm in which every life, every organization is missing, consists of myriads of animal creatures, the discovery of which was reserved for other investigations than the chemists' previous ones. So everything has lived and still lives, what surrounds us as rock, or as loose rock and earth and marl, however inconspicuously hidden from our view; There is nothing that has not worked independently, yes, perhaps nothing will declare the future to be inorganic anymore, but a life in the whole universe, indeed a lively life, or at least a survived, men and consider
Anonymous, 2020
Abel, Othenio, in encyclopedia.com
Https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/abel-othenio
Brett, Christopher, 2013a
On the trail of Climactichnites wilsoni - Part 1: Specimens Collected from a Quarry near Perth, Ontario. Blog Posting dated 31 January 2013.
http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2013/01/on-trail-of-climactichnites-wilsoni.html
Brett, Christopher, 2013b
On the trail of Climactichnites wilsoni - Part 2: References to the Quarry Near Perth in the Scientific Literature, and the Geologic Mapping of Lot 6. Blog posting dated February 11, 2013
Brett, Christopher, 2013c
On the trail of Climactichnites wilsoni - Part 3: A quarry about a mile from Perth as the town existed in 1859 . Blog posting dated 6 May 2013
http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2013/05/
Brett, Christopher, 2020
Reports of Trace Fossils from the Potsdam Group Sandstones of Ontario, Quebec and New York State. Blog posting dated 13 October 2020
http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2020/10/
Ehrenberg, Kurt, 1978
Othenio Abels Werden und Wirken. Eine Rückschau zu seinem 100. [Othenio Abel’s development and works. A look back at his 100th birthday] Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft der Geologie- und Bergbaustudenten in Österreich , volume 25. s. 271-295 , Vienna
https://opac.geologie.ac.at/ais312/dokumente/Mitteilungen_Band25_271_A.pdf
Frey, R.W., 1975 (Editor)
The Study of Trace Fossils: A Synthesis of Principles, Problems, and Procedures in Ichnology
Springer-Verlag: Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, 1975, 562 pages
Getty, Patrick R., 2007
Paleobiology of the Climactichnites Trackmaker: An Enigmatic Late Cambrian Animal Known Only from Trace Fossils . Master's thesis, University of Massachusetts Amherst. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/theses/19/
Getty, Patrick R. and James W. Hagadorn, 2008
Reinterpretation of Climactichnites Logan 1860 to Include Subsurface Burrows, and Erection of Musculopodus for Resting Traces of the Trailmaker. Journal of Paleontology, Vol. 82, No. 6 (Nov., 2008), pp. 1161-1172 (12 pages) https://www.jstor.org/stable/20144280
Getty, Patrick R. and James W. Hagadorn, 2009
Palaeobiology of the Climactichnites Tracemaker. Palaeontology, Volume 52, Issue 4, July 2009, Pages 753-778 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1475-4983.2009.00875.x
Häntzschel, W., 1962
Trace Fossils and Problematica. 177-245, Part W, Miscellanea, in Moore, Raymond C., editor, Treatise on invertebrate Paleontology. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015000388606
Knaust, Dirk and Richard G. Bromley, 2012 (Editors)
Trace Fossils as Indicators of Sedimentary Environments . Amsterdam, Oxford, etc.: Elsevier, 960 pages
Osgood, Richard G. ,Jr., 1975,
The History of Invertebrate Ichnology, chapter 1 in The Study of Trace Fossils: A Synthesis of Principles, Problems, and Procedures in Ichnology edited by R.W. Frey 1975. Springer-Verlag: Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, 1975, 562 pages
Rieppel, Olivier, 2012
Othenio Abel (1875–1946): the rise and decline of paleobiology in German paleontology
Historical Biology, An International Journal of Paleobiology, Volume 25, 2013 - Issue 3
Pages 313-325 | https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2012.697899
“Othenio Abel is widely acclaimed as the founder of paleobiology; of the journal Palaeobiologica and of the Paleobiological Society in Vienna.”
Romer, Alfred Sherwood , Nelda E. Wright, Tilly Edinger, and Richard Van Fran, 1962
Bibliography of Fossil Vertebrates Exclusive of North America, 1509-1927. Geological Society of America, Memoir 87, volume 1, A-K, Abel at page 1
Svojtka, Matthias, 2011
Das botanische Frühwerk des Paläobiologen Othenio Abel (1875 -1946): Persönliche Netzwerke und fachliche Prädisposition . [ The early botanical work of the paleobiologist Othenio Abel (1875 -1946): Personal networks and professional predisposition] Berichte der Geologischen Bundesanstalt, [Includes photo of O. Abel from 1901]
https://www.zobodat.at/biografien/BerichteGeolBundesanstalt_89_0052-0066.pdf
Thenius, Erich, 2013
100 Jahre Paläobiologie an der Universität Wien – die Jahre 1912 bis 1973. [100 years palaeobiology at the University of Vienna, 1912–1973.] Schriften Verein zur Verbreitung naturwissenschaftlicher Kenntnisse 151–152 (2013): 7–37
https://www.zobodat.at/pdf/SVVNWK_151_152_0007-0037.pdf
Watts, W.W., 1911
Report of the Council for 1910. President’s Address . Award of the Bigsby Medal [to Othenio Abel.] The Quarterly journal of the Geological Society of London. Volume 67, 1911, pages x and xlvii https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/122849#page/977/mode/1up
Yochelson, Ellis L and Fedonkin, Mikhail A., 1993
Paleobiology of Climactichnites, an Enigmatic Late Cambrian Fossil. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology. 74 (74): 1–74
DOI: https
