Scoyenia (White, 1929)


DESCRIPTION: Horizontal to vertical, curved, slender, ropelike burrows, that in some samples appear to widen and narrow along their long axis. Unbranched and commonly crossing each other. May have a ropey or wrinkled texture.

BEHAVIOR(S): Deposit feeding, fodinichnia.

ENVIRONMENTAL SETTINGS: Fully continental, terrestrial; found in the vadose (unsaturated) zone but also in imperfectly drained conditions.

POSSIBLE TRACEMAKERS: Beetle larvae (Coleoptera), cranefly larvae (Diptera, Tipulidae)

GEOLOGIC RANGE: Permian to recent.

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES: Frey et al., 1984; Retallack, 2001

REMARKS: The ropey texture appears as paired scratches that cover 360 degrees of the burrow wall; scratches very with the size of the specimen but are the same size in a single specimen.