Abstract

Putative crayfish trace fossils recently reported from Antarctica are likely small to large-diameter burrows of therapsid vertebrates based on comparisons to other Permian and Triassic tetrapod burrows from South Africa. The small and large-diameter burrows most likely belong to primitive mammal-like reptiles (therapsids) that constructed low-angle, elongate, and sometime spiralling tunnels. Similar burrows with associated therapsid body fossils occur in rocks that were deposited in alluvial environments in basins associated with Gondwana. This exercise in burrow identification stresses the importance of careful analysis of burrow morphologies, both in the outcrop and in the laboratory. Burrow signatures are useful for identifying a burrow architect only when 1) a large data base of specimens is available, 2) outcrop work details the 3-dimensional burrow architecture, and 3) comparisons are made to as many structures of burrowing organisms as possible.

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