page_title: Trace fossil
section_title: Other notable trace fossils
hierarchical_section_title: Trace fossil / Other notable trace fossils
caption_attribution_description: Čeština: Replika otisku tříprsté stopy českého dinosaura (či dinosauromorfa) od Červeného Kostelce. Byla objevena na pískovcové desce a má stáří kolem 215 milionů let (pozdní trias). Délka stopy činí 14 centimetrů. Ilustrace na dolní straně snímku je dílem ilustrátora Petra Modlitby. Fotografie pořízena na výstavě mechatroniky a dinosauřích modelů v Technickém muzeu v Brně. English: Cast of a tridactyl theropod dinosaur footprint from Červený Kostelec (Czech Republic). Footprint is 14 cm long and hails from Upper Triassic strata.
context_page_description: A trace fossil, also ichnofossil, is a fossil record of biological activity but not the preserved remains of the plant or animal itself. Trace fossils contrast with body fossils, which are the fossilized remains of parts of organisms' bodies, usually altered by later chemical activity or mineralization. Ichnology is the study of such trace fossils and is the work of ichnologists.
  Trace fossils may consist of impressions made on or in the substrate by an organism. For example, burrows, borings, urolites, footprints and feeding marks and root cavities may all be trace fossils.
  The term in its broadest sense also includes the remains of other organic material produced by an organism; for example coprolites or chemical markers. However, most sedimentary structures are not produced through the behaviour of an organism and thus are not considered trace fossils.
  The study of traces - ichnology - divides into paleoichnology, or the study of trace fossils, and neoichnology, the study of modern traces. Ichnological science offers many challenges, as most traces reflect the behaviour—not the biological affinity—of their makers.
context_section_description: Less ambiguous than the above ichnogenera, are the traces left behind by invertebrates such as Hibbertopterus, a giant "sea scorpion" or eurypterid of the early Paleozoic era. This marine arthropod produced a spectacular track preserved in Scotland.
  Bioerosion through time has produced a magnificent record of borings, gnawings, scratchings and scrapings on hard substrates. These trace fossils are usually divided into macroborings and microborings. Bioerosion intensity and diversity is punctuated by two events. One is called the Ordovician Bioerosion Revolution (see Wilson & Palmer, 2006) and the other was in the Jurassic. For a comprehensive bibliography of the bioerosion literature, please see the External links below.
  The oldest types of tetrapod tail-and-footprints date back to the latter Devonian period. These vertebrate impressions have been found in Ireland, Scotland, Pennsylvania, and Australia. A sandstone slab containing the track of tetrapod, dated to 400 million years, is amongst the oldest evidence of a vertebrate walking on land.
  Important human trace fossils are the Laetoli (Tanzania) footprints, imprinted in volcanic ash 3.7 Ma (million years ago) -- probably by an early Australopithecus.
caption: Cast of a tridactyl footprint of theropod dinosaur "Eubrontes" from the Triassic of the Czech Republic
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