Sulcichnus, Martinell & Domenech, 2009

Martinell, Jordi & Domènech, Rosa, 2009, Commensalism in the fossil record: Eunicid polychaete bioerosion on Pliocene solitary corals, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 54 (1), pp. 143-154 : 150

Reports of Sulcichnus in the literature

There are numerous reports in the literature that show Sulcichnus to be common in the fossil record on solitary corals since the Miocene, although authors do not always describe the presence of the trace.

Reuss (1872) reported and figured different Miocene caryophylliids with these grooves, collected in the central Europe Miocene basins.

Angelis (1894b) illustrated a specimen of Flabellum from the Ligurian Pliocene ( Italy) which appears to show a groove. Two authors reported corals from various Pliocene locations in the north of Italy and also figured specimens with grooves: Osasco (1895) ( Ceratotrochus ) and Simonelli (1895) ( Flabellum and Ceratotrochus ). Roger (1943, 1944) figures several species of Flabellum from the Lower Pliocene of Dar Bel Hamri (Atlantic coast of Morocco) that show Sulcichnus . Posteriorly, Chavan (1952) re−described one of the forms identified as F. avicula by Roger (1944), and also pointed out the presence of the groove. This author also refers to the same type of groove shown by specimens of Ceratotrochus found in this Moroccan location, as well as in Flabellum from the Malacitan Mediterranean Pliocene.

Cuif (1968) studied caryophylliids from Liguria and Djebel Hammamet ( Tunisia), two areas a considerable distance apart, and in both found specimens with the grooves.

Chevalier (1961) studied European Miocene corals but none of his plates show specimens with Sulcichnus . However, Zibrowius et al. (1975) pointed out that in Chevalier’s collection, which is housed in the Natural History Museum of Paris, they saw several Pliocene solitary scleractinians from the Atlantic Morocco and from Liguria ( Italy), all of them showing the excavation. They also detected the groove in Miocene and Pliocene specimens from the British Museum collections: for example, in some Flabellum from Los Tejares (Málaga, Andalusia), Pisa and Bussana (Liguria, Italy), in many specimens of Ceratotrochus from Tunisia, the north of Italy and the Alpes−Maritimes ( France), and in Trochocyatus from the Miocene of Tortona ( Italy).

The majority of traces seen in the literature (Recent and fossil forms) resemble S. maeandriformis , and a few seem to better fit with S. sigillum pattern. Nevertheless, a clear identification is not always feasible from the pictures, as previously noted.