Palaeozoic nonmarine firmground ichnofaunas: evidence from the permian of the Paganzo basin

Meniscate striated traces are recorded from Permian fluvial deposits of the La Colina Formation (Paganzo Group) at Los Colorados de Patqui??a (La Rioja Province). These structures are characterized by their remarkable well developed striations, oblique to the margins of unbranched and unwalled traces. Taxonomic assessment of these structures must await clarification of the actual nature of the ichnogenus Scoyenia and its relationship with Taenidium. They are interpreted as arthropod feeding structures (fodinichnia). Meniscate striated traces characterize firm substrates and crosscut a softground ichnofauna ascribed to the Scoyenia ichnofacies. Trace makers probably colonized the desiccated margins of a floodplain water body. A review of the ichnologic record of nonmarine firmgrounds shows the widespread establishment of trace fossils in cohesive sediments during the Mesozoic and only an incipient development during the Palaeozoic. The Palaeozoic examples undoubtely ascribed to invertebrates are known from the Permian and seem to record the displacement of organisms in the interface of a firm substrate, rather than burrowing activities within the cohesive sediment.