Abstract

Traces produced by modern animals provide useful information for our understanding of comparable trace fossils. This paper reports on a polychaete worm Euzonus producing traces which fall within the definition of the ichnotaxon Macaronichnus segregatis. Observation on the wave-dominated Pacific sandy coast of central Japan revealed that this animal and its trace occur exclusively in sediments of the mid-foreshore portion of the beach. Owing to such a limited occurrence of the modern trace, the ichnofossil M. segregatis might be useful as an indicator of mid-foreshore environment. The longer axes of modern M. segregatis-like traces on a bedding plane are arranged perpendicular to the shoreline and accordingly, its fossil counterpart can be utilized for reconstructions of the ancient shoreline orientation. In support of this assumption, a similar mode of M. segregatis occurrence is reported from Pleistocene shallow marine deposits in Japan.

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