Some new ichnospecies stored in the Geological Department of the National Museum of Natural History, NAS of Ukraine

Abstract

During the last decades, many scientists worldwide have focused on the study of activity signs of animals. Such signs of various animals have appeared in the geological history since Ediacaran rocks and can be found until today. They can be signs of sedentary lifestyle or tracks of moving of animals (both vertebrates and invertebrates), evidence of birth (e.g., eggshell fragments), sliding traces of molluscs and other organisms. In some cases, the study of ichnofossils is of great importance, especially for the so-called "palaeontologically dumb" sequences. However, the identification of the nature of ichnofossils is an issue. Sometimes, particular kinds of animals can be identified based on the shape and trajectory of traces. But usually such identifications are impossible, therefore an artificial nomenclature is used for these ichnospecies. In particular cases, ichnofossils help to resolve the problem of identification of ancient facies. It is often impossible to identify their position in the biological system, but the behaviour of animals can be clarified. Different animals leave imprints of their traces and tracks depending on the specifics of facies in the bottom of the sea or on the surface of the ground nearby to continental waterbodies. These can be traces of invertebrate and vertebrate animals. Soft soil is the most favourable for the formation of traces, although specific conditions are required for the preservation of these traces. There are organisms that leave signs of drilling on the solid bottom and on rocks. In the results, we can obtain some information, but only a part of it allows to obtain correct identifications. It is often impossible to identify animals according to their traces. Ichnofossils from deposits of various age and facies are studied by specialists in all continents and in the seabed. Ichnology, a new scientific branch emerged that develops rapidly. Ichnological approaches allow to identify ecological (facies) conditions of the geological past and are used in searches for oil and gas fields. The disadvantages of ichnology are the ambiguous interpretation of ichnospecies and the use of the same name for different objects (synonyms). In this paper, some new ichnospecies of various geological age are identified and described along with images of traces of unknown animals in situ.