Systematically branching burrows from the Lower Ordovician (Quebec Group) near Quebec, Canada

A new trace fossil (Quebecichnus lauzonensis n. g. et sp.) from dark, laminated graptolitic dolosiltites of the Quebec Group 6 km E of Quebec City is described. It comprises uniformly branching burrow systems developed along bedding planes, filled with cylindroidal to ellipsoidal pellets 3 mm long and 1 mm in diameter. The branches are nearly rectilinear, about 20 cm long, 1.5 cm wide, and 3–8 mm thick, and are internally laminated. They are developed by repeated equal, distally directed forking (30° on the average) from a point along the distal half of individual segments. The tunnels, probably feeding and dwelling burrows (Fodinichnia) of undetermined invertebrates, are associated with other, nondescript, vertical and oblique burrows, and with mid-Arenig graptolites. The trace fossils indicate a sufficiently well-oxygenated environment permitting metazoan life-activity at the site of deposition of these deepwater graptolitic muds.