Le Gault du Perthois: terriers, phosphates et petite crottes [The gault of Perthois: burrows, phosphates and small droppings]

The “Argiles tégulines de Courcelles” Fm are exploited for tile-making in two quarries at Pargny-sur-Saulx (Marne) and Contrisson (Meuse), between Vitry-le-François and Bar-le-Duc. Besides rather common body fossils (mainly Molluscs amongst which Ammonites are good stratigraphic markers, and Crustaceans), the ichnology of these clayey facies (“Gault”) is rich and displays a rather good variety of burrows and microcoprolites. These trace fossils are generally visible and can be studied only when the diagenesis, in peculiar here the phosphatization, makes them conspicuous. Several new ichnotaxa are described: Tibikoia faecacerva isp. nov., Tomaculopsis tomaculopsis igen. nov., isp. nov., Thoronetia tetrope isp. nov., Octotriangulella caseolus isp. nov., Triplifaex parallela igen. nov., isp. nov., and Podichnus donovani isp. nov. If the taphocoenosis of the body fossils provides a good idea of the palaeobiodiversity of the Gault in this area, the variety of the witnesses of the biological activity: trace fossils, burrows, coprolites and one gastrolite gives a different and complementary insight into this palaeobiodiversity.