| A single example of Oichnus excavatus Donovan & Jagt, infesting the holasteroid echinoid Hemipneustes striatoradiatus (Leske), is reported from the upper Meerssen Member, Maastricht Formation (uppermost Maastrichtian), of the former Blom quarry, Berg en Terblijt, southern Limburg, The Netherlands. This is the first evidence that O. excavatus may be more widely distributed in the type area of the Maastrichtian than previously assumed. The embedment structure occurs just below the ambitus and close to the peristome, suggesting that the producing organism may have been ingesting detritus from the sea floor rather than filter feeding, the more usual interpretation of its behaviour. |
