Plug-shaped burrow Bergaueria Prantl, 1945 from the Lower Cambrian of Nigalidhar Syncline, Himachal Pradesh, Lesser Himalaya and its biostratigraphic significance in Himalayan Cambrian sections

Four ichnospecies of Bergaueria Prantl 1945, namely B. perata, B. hemispherica, B. prantli, and Bergaueria isp., are described from the lower Cambrian Koti Dhaman Formation of Nigalidhar syncline, Lesser Himalaya. The records of Bergaueria Prantl, 1945 from the Himalayan Cambrian sections indicate it abundantly occurs in lower Cambrian successions lower than the Redlichia noetlingi Biozone in the Lesser Himalaya and Redlichia takooensis level in the Tethyan Himalaya. This ichnogenus can be biostratigraphically useful in the lower Cambrian sections of Himalaya where the body-fossils are either poorly preserved or yet unknown. Middle Cambrian (Wuliuan to Guzhangian) occurrences of Bergaueria are unknown from the Himalaya. Ordovician occurrences have only been reported from the Deona Formation, Lesser Himalaya. Facies analysis indicates Bergaueria mainly occurs in rocks suggesting a mixed-flat sub-environment of tidal flat setting.