Helminthopsis

{{Short description|Trace fossil}} {{Ichnobox |image = Helminthopsis01.JPG |image_caption = ''Helminthopsis'' trace fossils from the Logan Formation (Lower Carboniferous) of Wooster, Ohio |image2 = Helminthopsis02.jpg |image2_caption = ''Helminthopsis'' trace fossils in a core from the Belridge Diatomite (Upper Miocene) of Lost Hills Oil Field, California |taxon = Helminthopsis |authority = Heer, 1877 }}

'''''Helminthopsis''''' is an ichnogenus of trace fossil that is found preserved on the bedding planes of fine-grained sedimentary rocks. It is characterized by short, curvilinear, nonbranching, parallel-sided, unlined traces on bedding surfaces. It is thought to represent the submarine feeding trails of an invertebrate organism that worked the surface of muddy substrates in search of food.<ref name="fillion1990" /><ref name="buatois1998" /> Because ''Helminthopsis'' traces never cross over themselves, the ichnogenus is distinguished from similar traces assigned to the ''Gordia'' ichnogenus.<ref name="wang2009" /> The similar sounding, but now obsolete, ichnogenus ''Helminthoida'' refers to a somewhat similar trace characterized by regular, back-and-forth meanders, whereas ''Helminthopsis'' is irregular.<ref name="carmona2008" />

==See also== * Trace fossil * Ichnology

==References== {{Commons category|Helminthopsis}} {{Reflist | refs=

<ref name="buatois1998">{{cite journal |author=Buatois, L.A., Mángano, M.G., Maples, C.G. and Lanier, W.P. |date=1998 |title=Ichnology of an Upper Carboniferous fluvio-estuarine paleovalley: The Tonganoxie sandstone, Buildes Quarry, eastern Kansas, USA |journal=Journal of Paleontology |volume=72 |pages=152–180|doi=10.1017/S0022336000024094 |bibcode=1998JPal...72..152B |s2cid=140690638 }}</ref>

<ref name="carmona2008">{{cite journal|author=Carmona, N.B., Buatois, L.A., Mángano, M.A. and Bromley, R.G. |year=2008 |title=Ichnology of the Lower Miocene Chenque Formation, Patagonia, Argentina: animal - substrate interactions and the Modern Evolutionary Fauna |journal=Ameghiniana |volume=45 |issue=1| url=http://www.scielo.org.ar/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0002-70142008000100007}}</ref>

<ref name="fillion1990">{{cite journal |author1=Fillion, D. |author2=Pickerall, R.K. |date=1990 |title=Ichnology of the Upper Cambrian? to Lower Ordovician Bell Island and Waban groups of eastern Newfoundland, Canada |journal=Palaeontographica Canadian |volume=7 |pages=1–41}}</ref>

<ref name="wang2009">{{Cite journal| first1 = Y.| first2 = J. P.| first3 = Y. L.| first4 = P. J.| title = Palaeoecology of the trace fossil Gordia and its interaction with nonmineralizing taxa from the early Middle Cambrian Kaili Biota, Guizhou Province, South China| last1 = Wang| journal = Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology| volume = 277| pages = 141–148| year = 2009| doi = 10.1016/j.palaeo.2009.02.017| last2 = Lin| last3 = Zhao| last4 = Orr | issue = 1–2| bibcode = 2009PPP...277..141W}}</ref>

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Category:Trace fossils