The trace fossil Lepidenteron lewesiensis (Mantell, 1822) from the Upper Cretaceous of southern Poland

Lepidenteron lewesiensi (Mantell, 1822) is an unbranched trace fossil lined with small fish scales and bones, without a constructed wall. It is characteristic of the Upper Cretaceous epicontinental, mostly marly sediments in Europe. In the Miechow Segment of the Szczecin-Miechow Synclinorium in southern Poland, it occurs in the Upper Campanian-Lower Maastrichtian deeper shelf sediments, which were deposited below wave base and are characterized by total bioturbation and a trace fossil assemblage comprising Planolites. Palaeophycus, Thalassinoides, Trichichnus, Phycosiphon. Zoophycos and Helicodromnes that is typical of the transition from the distal Ciwziana to the Zoophycos ichnofacies. L. lewesiensis was produced by a burrowing predator or scavenger of fishes. The tracemaker candidates could be eunicid polychaetes or anguillid fishes.