Enigmatic Dactyloidites Cambrian Trace Fossil

Description: This unusual stellate trace fossil is termed Dactyloidites asteroides. It is the type species of an ichnogenus that extends from the Cambrian all the way to the Pleistocene. It is extremely unlikely that the same species of animal was responsible for over a half billion years. The most recent are ascribed to a polychaete worm which fed on the substrate from a central burrow in a pattern that resulted in this star shaped trace. The recent examples are somewhat three dimensional, while older ones such as this have been smashed flat by the intervening geological processes. I have never had one before, and expect it to be of interest to those who study inchnology.