Ichnology of the late Cenozoic of southeast Jamaica: additional ichnotaxa and synthesis

Unrecorded borings from Upper Pliocene deep-water deposits of the Bowden shell bed of southeast coastal Jamaica are described. They comprise Trypanites weisei Mägdefrau, 1932; Entobia ovula Bromley and D'Alessandro, 1984; Entobia isp. cf. E. geometrica Bromley and D'Alessandro, 1984; and Entobia isp. Additional bioerosional structures in the nine samples include features retained in open nomenclature as circular pits. All borings occurred in association with the scleractinian corals Meandrina (Placocyathus) barretti Duncan and Antillia sp., possibly A. gregorii Vaughan, the gastropod Strombus sp., or substrates subsequently removed by dissolution (most probably also originally of molluscan affinity). The ichnogenus Trypanites was unrecorded from the Jamaica rock record; likewise, the ichnospecies E. cf. geometrica represents a new and unique occurrence. Comparison is made of the collective assemblage of ichnotaxa from the Bowden shell bed with those from overlying Pliocene (Bowden Formation marlstones) and Pleistocene strata (Old Pera beds of the Manchioneal Formation, Port Morant Formation). A close ichnological similarity to the shallow-water marine Port Morant Formation suggests that bored material in the Bowden shell bed was derived from shallow water, as also supported by previously reported sedimentological and faunal data.