Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Bioclaustration-boring structures in bryozoans from the Upper Ordovician of the Cincinnati region

Chimneys 149aAnother bioerosion mystery from those fascinating Upper Ordovician rocks around Cincinnati. Above you see a flat, bifoliate trepostome bryozoan (probably Peronopora) with pock holes scattered across its surface. At first you may think, after reading so many blog posts here, that these are again the simple cylindrical boring Trypanites, but then you note that they are shallow and have raised rims so that they look like little meteorite craters. These holes thus represent tiny organisms on the bryozoan surface while it was alive. The bryozoan grew around these infesters, producing the reaction tissue of the rims. This is a kind of preservation called bioclaustration (literally, “walled-in life” from the same root in claustrophobia and cloisters). The specimen is from locality C/W-149 (Liberty Formation near Brookville, Franklin County, Indiana; 39º 28.847′ N, 84º 56.941′ W).
Chimneys 153aThis is another trepostome bryozoan with these rimmed pits. It is from locality C/W-153 (Bull Fork Formation near Maysville, Mason County, Kentucky; 38º 35.111′ N, 083º 42.094′ W). The pits are more numerous and have more pronounced reaction rims.
Chimneys 153bA closer view. One of the interesting questions is whether these pits are also borings. Did they cut down into the bryozoan skeleton at the same time it was growing up around them? We should be able to answer that by making a cross-section through the pits to see what their bases look like. The bryozoan walls should be either cut or entire.
Chimneys 153cThis is an older image I made back in the days of film to show the density of the rimmed pits in the same bryozoan as above. If we assume that the pit-maker was a filter-feeding organism, how did it affect the nutrient intake of the host bryozoan? Maybe the infester had a larger feeding apparatus and took a larger size fraction of the suspended food? (This could be a project where we apply aerosol filtration theory.)  Maybe the bryozoan suffered from a cut in its usual supply of food and had a stunted colony as a result? These are questions my students and I plan to pursue this summer and next year.

It is good to get back to the glorious Cincinnatian!

References:

Ernst, A., Taylor, P.D. and Bohatý, J. 2014. A new Middle Devonian cystoporate bryozoan from Germany containing a new symbiont bioclaustration. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 59: 173–183.

Kammer, T.W. 1985. Aerosol filtration theory applied to Mississippian deltaic crinoids. Journal of Paleontology 59: 551-560.

Palmer, T.J. and Wilson, M.A. 1988. Parasitism of Ordovician bryozoans and the origin of pseudoborings. Palaeontology 31: 939-949.

Rubinstein, D.I. and Koehl, M.A.R. 1977. The mechanisms of filter feeding: some theoretical considerations. American Naturalist 111: 981-994.

Tapanila, L. 2005. Palaeoecology and diversity of endosymbionts in Palaeozoic marine invertebrates: trace fossil evidence. Lethaia 38: 89-99.

Taylor, P.D. and Voigt, E. 2006. Symbiont bioclaustrations in Cretaceous cyclostome bryozoans. Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg 257: 131-136.

About Mark Wilson

Mark Wilson is a Professor of Geology at The College of Wooster. He specializes in invertebrate paleontology, carbonate sedimentology, and stratigraphy. He also is an expert on pseudoscience, especially creationism.
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3 Responses to Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Bioclaustration-boring structures in bryozoans from the Upper Ordovician of the Cincinnati region

  1. Paul Taylor says:

    There are clear similarities with a bioclaustration from a Devonian bryozoan (https://www.app.pan.pl/archive/published/app57/app20100110_acc.pdf) which in turn resembles structures made by modern spionid worms in some living bryozoans.

  2. Mark Wilson says:

    Very helpful, Paul. This gives us an excellent start with the analysis. Thanks! [UPDATE March 19, 2014: Added the Ernst et al. 2014 reference now that it has appeared in print.]

  3. Andrew Retzler says:

    Hmm…I kind of like the idea of miniature impact craters 🙂

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