Ordovician and Silurian Arthrophycid Ichnostratigraphy

Group-specific fingerprints (transverse corrugation) and distinctive behavioral programs make arthrophycids more suited for ichnostratigraphic correlation than other worm burrows. Arthrophycids comprise the ichnogenera Arthrophycus, Daedalus and Phycodes, whose ichnospecies evolved various behavioral programs for more efficient sediment feeding. In the Ordovician and Silurian, these trace fossils complement the scheme based on trilobite burrows (Cruziana) and at the same time have a more global distribution.