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Crustacean microcoprolites from Jurassic (Oxfordian) hydrocarbon-seep deposits of Beauvoisin, southeastern France

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Abstract

Decapod crustaceans are the most conspicuous predators and scavengers of modern chemosynthesis-based ecosystems at hydrothermal vents and hydrocarbon seeps; however, very little is known about decapod crustaceans at ancient seeps or vents. Some decapods, including galatheids, are known to produce highly specific, internally structured microcoprolites. Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) hydrocarbon-seep limestones from Beauvoisin (southeastern France) were found to contain such microcoprolites including Favreina fontana n. isp., F. cf. martellensis Brönnimann and Zaninetti, Palaxius salataensis Brönnimann, Cross and Zaninetti and Palaxius isp. These diverse ichnofossils indicate that crustaceans were also a part of ancient chemosynthesis-based ecosystems. This is the first report of crustacean coprolites from a deep-water environment.

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Acknowledgments

Comments by Kathleen Campbell (Auckland, New Zealand), James Goedert (Seattle, WA) and an anonymous reviewer improved the manuscript. Financial support was provided by the ‘Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft’ through SE 416/13 dedicated to B. Senowbari-Daryan and the DFG-Research Center for Ocean Margins, Bremen (contribution no. RCOM0434).

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  1. Institut für Paläontologie, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Loewenichstrasse 28, 91054, Erlangen, Germany

    B. Senowbari-Daryan

  2. CNRS, UMR 5125, Paléoenvironnements et Paléobiosphère, Université Lyon 1, Université de Lyon, 2 rue Raphaël Dubois, Villeurbanne, 69622, France

    C. Gaillard

  3. DFG-Forschungszentrum Ozeanränder, Universität Bremen, Postfach 330 440, 28334, Bremen, Germany

    J. Peckmann

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Correspondence to J. Peckmann.

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Senowbari-Daryan, B., Gaillard, C. & Peckmann, J. Crustacean microcoprolites from Jurassic (Oxfordian) hydrocarbon-seep deposits of Beauvoisin, southeastern France. Facies 53, 229–238 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-006-0096-7

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