Abstract
IN the Czechoslovak Carpathians I have found imprints, described in the literature from many localities throughout the world as Zoophycos, Taonurus, Spirophyton, etc. The occurrence of these imprints in numerous localities in the Czechoslovak Carpathians is closely related to fine-grained sandstone strata, and sometimes to the marlstones (Cretaceous, Palaeogene). After a detailed investigation I concluded that these imprints were formed by abandoned prostomial parts (gill organs) of sedentary marine worms (Annelida, Polychaeta) from the family Sabellidae1. The imprints are closely similar to the recent genus Spirographis Viviani 1805. As in that genus, the gill rays of the fossil worms are spirally wound around an asymmetrical gill lobe either to the left or to the right side, in the ratio of about 1:1. In sedimentary rocks the gill organs are either perpendicular to the bedding plane or they form flat coinciding accumulations.
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PLIČKA, M. Origin of Fossil ‘Zoophycos’. Nature 208, 579 (1965). https://doi.org/10.1038/208579a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/208579a0
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