Cambrian Protichnites Ichnofossil

Name: Protichnites Trace Fossil (Ichnofossil)

Age: Middle Cambrian

Size: mm (25.4mm=1 inch): Matrix: 120 mm across diagonal by 80 mm high, see 12-inch ruler in picture for size perspective

Location: Krukowski Quarry, Mount Simon Sandstone Outlier, Mosinee,Wisconsin

Code: DD27


ProtichnitesThis Protichnites comes from the Krukowski Quarry, believed to be an outlier of the Mount Simon Sandstone. This quarry is currently under study as perhaps containing Ichnofossils of the earliest animals to venture ashore during the Middle Cambrian. Among the different trackway fossils found in this quarry (including Diplichnites and Climactichnites), Protichnites is the rarest both in terms of dispersion and absolute numbers. The sandstone slab here lacks ripples, suggesting that the tracks were made on a sand flat well above the tide, rather than underwater. This, in turn, suggests that the animal which made Protichnites tracks could have been one of the Earth's first air-breathing animals.

This smaller particular specimen contains a very high density of both footprints and tail tracks, and is totally natural without any staining.


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