Lithographus

{{Short description|Ichnogenus of trace fossil}} {{Ichnobox | fossil_range = {{fossil range|Permian|Cretaceous}} | image = | image_caption = | taxon = Lithographus | authority = Hitchcock 1858 | type_ichnospecies = | type_ichnospecies_authority = | subdivision_ranks = Ichnospecies | subdivision = *''L. hieroglypichus'' <small>Hitchcock 1858</small><ref name="MinterEtal2012"/> |synonyms = }}

'''''Lithographus''''' (‘rock writing’<ref name=Lucas2011>{{cite book |last1=Lucas |first1=Spencer G. |title=Traces of a Permian seacoast : Prehistoric Trackways National Monument |date=2011 |publisher=New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science |location=Albuquerque, N.M. |isbn=9780615471709 |page=22}}</ref>) is a Carboniferous<ref name=KeighleyPickerill1998>{{cite journal |last1=Keighley |first1=D. |last2=Pickerill |first2=R. |year=1998 |title=Systematic ichnology of the Mabou and Cumberland groups (Carboniferous) of western Cape Breton Island, eastern Canada, 2: surface markings |journal=Atlantic Geology |volume=34 |number=2 |pages=83–112 |url=https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/ageo/1998-v34-n2-ageo_34_2/ageo34_2art01/ |access-date=14 April 2022}}</ref> to Cretaceous<ref name="MinterEtal2012">{{cite journal |last1=Minter |first1=Nicholas J. |last2=Lockley |first2=Martin G. |last3=Huh |first3=Min |last4=Hwang |first4=Koo-Geun |last5=Kim |first5=Jeong Yul |title=Lithographus, an Abundant Arthropod Trackway from the Cretaceous Haenam Tracksite of Korea |journal=Ichnos |date=January 2012 |volume=19 |issue=1-2 |pages=115–120 |doi=10.1080/10420940.2011.625756}}</ref> trace fossil that has been found in North America, South America, Europe, and east Asia.<ref name="MinterEtal2012"/>

The ichnogenus is characterized by alternating groups of three tracks arranged in an arrow shape. These are interpreted as tracks of cockroaches, beetles, or similar insects.<ref name=Lucas2011/><ref name="MinterEtal2012"/> The tracks are likely produced on relatively dry surfaces where the insect's legs do not drag; on wetter sediments, a more continuous trackway is created that is sometimes assigned to '''''Grammepus'''''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Getty |first1=Patrick |last2=Ward |first2=Matthew |last3=Simon |first3=Jack |title=Grammepus Hitchcock, 1858: A sedimentary variant of the fossil insect trackway Lithographus |journal=Annales Societatis Geologorum Poloniae |date=2021 |doi=10.14241/asgp.2021.09|doi-access=free }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Arthropod trace fossils Category:Monotypic prehistoric insect genera