Original paper
Fossil pectinariid tubes (Polychaeta, Terebellida) from Cenozoic strata of Washington and Oregon
Kočí, Tomáš; Goedert, James L.; Rich, Michael A.
Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen Band 315 Heft 2 (2025), p. 209 - 229
154 references
published: Aug 12, 2025
published online: Aug 7, 2025
manuscript accepted: Jul 3, 2025
manuscript received: Jun 28, 2025
DOI: 10.1127/njgpa/1275
ArtNo. ESP155031502006, Price: 29.00 €
Abstract
The Pectinariidae, commonly known as ice cream cone worms, build the walls of their conical tubes using small grains of sediment or other particles held together with an organic cement. They have a poor fossil record because they are easily broken up by wave action, and the organic cement can quickly dissolve after death allowing grains in the tube walls to scatter, and are further degraded by diagenetic processes during burial and fossilization. We have discovered for the first time pectinariid tubes and tube wall fragments in the latest Eocene or earliest Oligocene Quimper and Makah formations in Washington State, and early to middle Miocene rocks of the Astoria Formation in both Washington and Oregon. The Quimper and Makah Formation specimens are the earliest known pectinariid fossils from North America and the North Pacific Ocean.
Keywords
Pectinariidae • Pectinaria • Oligocene • Miocene • North Pacific