In spite of the fact that Campanian-Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) strata in the extended Maastrichtian type area (southeast Netherlands, northeast Belgium, Aachen area, Germany) locally yield common and fairly diverse brachiopod assemblages, there are no previous records of pedicle etching traces assignable to the ichnotaxon Podichnus centrifugalis BROMLEY & SURLYK, 1973. Here we report the first examples of this type of trace fossil, in a test of the echinoid Echinocorys gr. conoidea (GOLDFUSS, 1829) from the Lixhe 1 Member (Gulpen Formation; lower Upper Maastrichtian), as exposed at the CPL SA quarry (Haccourt, province of Liège, Belgium). Overall size (c. 1.0 and 0.5 mm, respectively; the smaller example possibly representing the attachment trace of a juvenile or a different species of brachiopod) and structure suggest these traces to have been produced by a brachiopod pedicle with relatively few papillae. Of brachiopod species known to date from the same stratigraphic level, either the terebratulids Neoliothyrina obesa and Carneithyris sp. or the platidiid Aemula may be considered as agents but this is, of course, highly conjectural, at least for the time being. |
