Nereites

Nereites
Temporal range: (perhaps earlier, references needed)
Nereites irregularis
Trace fossil classification
Ichnogenus: †Nereites
McLeay, 1839

Nereites is an ichnogenus of trace fossil. Modern tracemakers of incipient Nereites include worm-like organisms, horseshoe crabs and hermit crabs. Traditionally, two models have been proposed for Nereites:

  1. in the ‘worm model’, Nereites is a feeding burrow produced by wormlike organisms, probing and backfilling laterally
  2. in the ‘arthropod model’, the characteristic lobes are pressure-release structures made by arthropod legs. According to this interpretation, Nereites is a locomotion trail
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