Continental trace fossils and museum exhibits - Geological Curators ...

The exhibit of skink burrows could be complementedwith late Palaeozoic or early Mesozoic vertebrateburrows with similar cross-sectional morphology(Smith 1987, Groenewald et al. 2001). To make suchan exhibit interactive, spiral burrows constructed bylate Palaeozoic mammal-like reptiles of South Africa,with a cross-sectional morphology similar to that ofskink and other lizard burrows, could be used and thequestion asked, “How or why are these burrowsdifferent?” One answer could be that the spiralmorphology of the Palaeozoic burrows from SouthAfrica indicates a mammalian burrow constructor.Wolf spiderWolf spider (Araneae: Lycosidae) burrow casts arerelatively simple in morphology, composed of avertical shaft and a slightly expanded terminationthat serves as a chamber (Figures 8A, B). The burrowentrance is circular and may contain an enclosuremade of sediment woven with strands of silk or maybe lined with an elevated rim of silk (Figures 8C, D).Figure 7. Skink burrows. (A-B) Cast of a modernskink burrow from the Simpson Desert about 80 kmsouth of Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia;cast is 330 mm tall. (C-D) Inverted U-shaped groovein the floor of a modern skink burrow (C) comparedto that of a burrow interpreted as vertebrate in origin(D) from the Triassic Fremouw Formation, CollinsonRidge, Antarctica. Burrow in (C) is 40 mm wide, lenscap in (D) is 62 mm wide.Figure 8. Wolf spider burrows. (A-B) Cast of amodern wolf spider burrow from the Simpson Desertabout 80 km south of Alice Springs, NorthernTerritory, Australia; cast is 220 mm tall. (C-D) Wolfspider burrow entrances from the Umbum Creek nearLake Eyre, Australia. Chimney of a wolf spiderburrow held in place by silk that can be seen at theentrance (C); a wolf spider burrow enclosure similarto a door composed sediment bound by abundantstrands of silk (D). Lens cap in (C) is 60 mm tall and250 mm tall in (D)-221-