''Scolicia''
de Quartrefages, 1849 is a
parataxon
Form classification is the classification of organisms based on their morphology, which does not necessarily reflect their biological relationships. Form classification, generally restricted to palaeontology, reflects uncertainty; the goal of s ...
of
ichnofossil
A trace fossil, also known as an ichnofossil (; from el, ἴχνος ''ikhnos'' "trace, track"), is a fossil record of biological activity but not the preserved remains of the plant or animal itself. Trace fossils contrast with body fossils, ...
s present in
sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...
s of marine, marginal lacustrine, alluvial, or fluvial facies. These fossil traces appear in a wide geological range, from the
Cambrian
The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million ...
to the present.
[KU Ichnology - Studying the Traces of Life]
/ref>
''Scolicia'' traces appear as horizontal, bilaterally symmetrical, meandering trails, variably shaped, ridgelike or ribbon like, about 1-5 centimeters wide. The trail consists of two parallel and identical in width stripes with variable trasversal ribs and a central channel. [
Although the term ''Scolicia'' is the most common for this type of trails or burrows in some cases, when the transverse ribbing is not very clear, it is used for the positive impression (epirelief) the term ''Palaeobullia'' and for the negative impression (hyporelief) the term ''Subphyllochorda''. ][ José Carlos Garcia-Ramo]
ESTUDIO DE LAS TRAZAS FOSILES (ICNOFAUNA) DEL CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR (PROVINCIA DE CADIZ)
/ref>
These very common fossil traces are locomotion or feeding traces made by different animal groups in their movement in the mud of the seabed, beneath the sand or in the transition from one to another area. [
When these traces do not have the transverse ribbing their realization is usually assigned to members of various groups of gastropods and crustaceans. ][
File:Scolicia Punta San García 01.JPG, Ichnofossil ''Scolicia'' from Oligocene-Miocene of Spain
File:Subphyllochorda 2 Punta San García 01.JPG, Ichnofossil ''Scolicia'' type ''Subphyllochorda'' from Oligocene-Miocene of Spain
]
References
{{commonscat, Scolicia
Trace fossils