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A Valanginian crustacean microcoprolite ichnofauna from the shallow-marine hydrothermal vent site of Zengővárkony (Mecsek Mts., Hungary)

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Abstract

A rich and diverse crustacean microcoprolite ichnofauna is reported from the Valanginian of the Mecsek Mts., Hungary. Localities from the Bolondút and Dezső Rezső valleys near Zengővárkony (Eastern Mecsek Mts.) provided Favreina aff. dispentochetarius, Palaxius darjaensis, P. triochetarius, P. salataensis, P. tetraochetarius, and P. decaochetarius. They occur in limonitic and partly metasomatized limestones, limestone olistoliths, and ammonite body-chambers. The remarkable richness of this ichnofauna plus the previous records from the same environment (altogether 11 ichnospecies of four ichnogenera from a single stratigraphic level) make it the most diverse crustacean ichnofauna of the Mesozoic. The former ecosystem of the ichnofauna is considered a deeper shallow-marine (water depth <300 m) hydrothermal vent on which the producers of the microcoprolites lived. The related brachiopod fauna shows a remarkable size and is dominated by Lacunosella. This fauna is not similar to typical fossil deep-sea vent faunas; however, it offers a thorough understanding of other fossil shallow-marine hydrothermal vent faunas and the role of crustaceans in these ecosystems. This is the first record of crustacean coprolites from such a fossil site and documents that crustaceans were diverse and played an important role in shallow-marine, non photosynthesis-based ecosystems in the geological past.

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Acknowledgments

Special thanks to David Buchs and Diego Kietzmann for sending literature. My special thanks to Günter Schweigert for sending literature and comments on an early version of this paper. Remarks of Jaume Gallemí on the ecological needs of echinoids are acknowledged. Special thanks go to Mr. Ferenc Budai for preparing the thin-sections and to Mr. Sándor Kiss for the field work. My special thanks go to Joachim Blau and an anonymous reviewer of this paper for their critical and helpful remarks and corrections. This research has been supported by the Bolyai János Research Grant of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

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  1. Department of Geology, Institute of Geography, University of Pécs, 6 Ifjúság Street, 7624, Pécs, Hungary

    László Bujtor

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Bujtor, L. A Valanginian crustacean microcoprolite ichnofauna from the shallow-marine hydrothermal vent site of Zengővárkony (Mecsek Mts., Hungary). Facies 58, 249–260 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-011-0285-x

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