The trace fossil Dactyloidites ottoi (Geinitz, 1849) from the Neogene August Town Formation of south-central Jamaica

Rosette-shaped problematica are relatively common structures in the Phanerozoic rock record. Historically, they have been accorded a variety of names and documented from various shallow to deep marine environments. Unfortunately, the detailed interpretation of many such structures as biogenic (trace fossils, medusoids, or other body fossils; see, for example, Häntzschel, 1970, 1975) or nonbiogenic (for example, Pickerill and Harris, 1979) in origin still remains to be resolved. However, a detailed analysis of one such structure by Fürsich and Bromley (1985), namely Dactyloidites Hall, 1886, convincingly demonstrated its biogenic origin. The distinctive morphology of Dactyloidites and its synonyms was interpreted by Fürsich and Bromley (1985) to result from successive probings of an essentially stationary deposit-feeding, worm-like organism, possibly possessing a proboscis, to produce a rosetted, vertical spreiten with a centrally located, vertical or subvertical shaft.