Soft-sediment ichnotaxa from the Cenozoic White Limestone Group, Jamaica, West Indies

Jamaica, the third largest of the Greater Antillean islands, exposes various lithological units that are dominated by Cenozoic carbonate rocks including those of the mid-Cenozoic White Limestone Group. This Group is comprised of six formations, the Troy, Swanswick, Somerset, Moneague, Montpelier and Pelleu Island formations. An uncommon but moderately diverse, poorly to moderately preserved softsediment ichnofauna is described herein from several of these, namely the Moneague, Montpelier and Pelleu Island formations, which have yielded 15 ichnogenera represented by 27 ichnospecies. These are: Bergaueria hemispherica? Crimes, Legg, Marcos & Arboleya; Chondrites furcatus Sternberg; Chondrites isp.; Circulichnus montanus Vialov; Dactyloidites ottoi (Geinitz); Dactyloidites peniculus D’Alessandro & Bromley; Diplocraterion isp. cf. D. parallelum Torell; Glockerichnus parvula (Ksiazkiewicz); Helminthopsis hieroglyphica Wetzel & Bromley; Ophiomorpha nodosa Lundgren; Palaeophycus herberti (Saporta); Palaeophycus tubularis Hall; Palaeophycus isp.; Planolites beverleyensis (Billings); Planolites montanus Richter; Planolites isp.; Schaubcylindrichnus coronus Frey & Howard; Scolicia prisca Quatrefages; Scolicia strozzii Savi & Meneghini; Taenidium cameronensis (Brady); Taenidium serpentinum Heer; cf. Taenidium barretti (Bradshaw); Thalassinoides horizontalis Myrow; Thalassinoides paradoxicus (Woodward); Thalassinoides isp.; Trichichnus linearis Frey; and Trichichnus simplex Fillion & Pickerill. Various processes such as dolomitization, lack of bedding plane surfaces, lack of contrasting lithologies precluding toponomic preservation, case hardening and chertification may, individually or in combination, be responsible for the variable ichnofaunal diversity within and between the various formations of the White Limestone Group.