Annales Societatis Geologorum Poloniae (2015), vol. 85: 529–549. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14241/asgp.2015.032 CONSTRUC TION OF ICHNOGENERIC NAMES An drew K. RINDSBERG De part ment of Bi o log i cal & En vi ron men tal Sci ences, Sta tion 7, Uni ver sity of West Al a bama, Livingston, AL 35470; e-mail [email protected] Rindsberg, A. K., 2015. Con struc tion of ichnogeneric names. Annales Societatis Geologorum Poloniae, 85: 529–549. Ab stract: Ichnologists have over used the root ichn- “trace”, em ploy ing it in new terms and new ichnogenera alike, to the point where it can be dif fi cult to express one self clearly with out us ing it sev eral times in one sen tence. The root de rives from Ancient Greek ÇP<@l (ichnos), which means “foot print” or “track”, or by ex ten sion a “trace”, any sign of an an i mal’s activ ity. Perhaps it is time to explore the use of other roots to create new ichnologic terms and gen era. Al ter na tive Latin and Greek roots are given here, as well as ad vice on how to construct new ichnogenera in a techni cally cor rect and aes theti cally pleas ing manner. Key words: Ichnology, trace fossils, ichnotaxonomy, ter minol ogy. Manuscript received 16 June 2015, ac cepted, 7 Sep tem ber 2015 IN TRO DUC TION Robert W. Frey used to remark that the phrase “ichno- ichnology (ichnologie comparée, Lessertisseur, 1952), ge nus Teichichnus” sounded aw ful, but there was nothing to coprolichnia (Macsotay, 1967, p. 10), cursichnion, mor- be done about it. Ichnologists have hundreds of uses for the dichnion, natichnion, volichnion (Müller, 1962), ichnidion Greek word ÇP<@l (-@LH, J`), which means “foot print” or or endichnidion (Martinsson, 1970, p. 328), ichnite (Hitch- “track”, or by ex tension a “trace”, any sign of an ani mal’ s cock, 1837, p. 175), ichnoabundance (Knaust et al., 2014, p. pass ing. Seilacher, in par tic u lar, has been re spon si ble for 2232); ichnodisparity (Buatois and Mángano, 2013), coin ing new terms in cor po rat ing ÇP<@l. Knaust (2012, p. ichnodiversity (Lockley and Gillette, 1987), ichnoguild 95) deter mined that about 44% of all valid inver te brate (Bromley, 1990, p. 211), ichnofamily (Seilacher, 1977, p. 296; ichnogenera end in ichnus. Accord ingly, this pa per suggests Rindsberg, 1990, p. 61), ichnoflora (Frey, 1973, ta ble 2), al ter na tive roots that are ap pro pri ate for con struct ing new ichnolite (Hitchcock in R., 1838, p. 201), ichnolithology ichnogeneric names. (Hitchcock, 1841, p. 770), ichnospectrum (Ichnospektrum, Many of the most com monly used ichnologic terms in- Seilacher, 1964, p. 697), ichnostratigraphy (Baldwin, 1977, clude the stem ÇP<-. These include ichnocoenose or ichno- fig. 6), ichnotaxonomy (Bromley and Fürsich, 1980; Ekdale coenosis (Davitashvili, 1945; Lessertisseur, 1956, p. 10), et al., 1984, p. 17), ichnotope (Radwañski and Roniewicz, ichnofabric (Bromley and Ekdale, 1982), ichnofacies 1971, p. 53), lithichnozoa (Hitchcock, 1858, p. 1), ornithi- (Ichnofazies, Seilacher, 1963), ichnofauna (Frey, 1973, ta - chnites, ornithichnology (Hitchcock, 1836), palaeoichno- ble 2), ichnofossil (Seilacher, 1956, p. 158), ichnogenus logy (Paläoichnologie, Abel, 1935, p. 33) or palichnology (Seilacher, 1953, p. 440), ichnologist, ichnology (Buck land, (Palichnologie, Seilacher, 1953, p. 423); and the many etho- about 1830, vide Häntzschel, 1975, p. W2), ichnospecies log i cal cat e go ries re viewed by Vallon et al. (2015). I cite the (Ichnospezies, Seilacher, 1953, p. 440), ichnotaxon, neo- ear liest uses of the terms of which I am currently aware. ichnology (Neoichnologie, Seilacher, 1953, p. 473); cubich- Some of the lat ter terms are des tined to be come part of the nion, domichnion, fodinichnion, pascichnion, repichnion reg u lar vo cab u lary of sci ence; some are ob so lete; some have (Seilacher, 1953, pp. 432–434); fugichnion (Frey, 1973); been used only once. agrichnion (Ekdale et al., 1984); endichnion, epichnion, The greatest use for ÇP<@l is in a large num ber of ge- exichnion, hypichnion (Martinsson, 1965). Where possi ble, neric names for fos sil traces such as Aulichnites, Cylin- I have given the cita tion for the first use of the term. All of drichnus, Diplichnites, Ichnium, Ichnocumulus, Ichnyspica, these words are dysphonious in English, in which the simi - Isopodichnus, Permichnium, Phoebichnus, and Teichichnus lar word icky means “sticky, dis taste ful”, but they are part of (Ta ble 1). More are named ev ery year. Häntzschel (1975, p. the reg u lar vo cab u lary of ichnology. W24) traced the or igin of this custom to Jardine (1853), In addi tion, there is a host of terms in less com mon use: who “proposed that the ending -ichnus be added to the ge- anichnial (Dörjes and Hertweck, 1975, p. 479), com para tive neric names of ver tebrate trails from Scotland so that it 530 A. K. RINDSBERG Ta ble 1 cles, but used ÇP<@l when he named Trichichnus Frey, 1971 and Schaubcylindrichnus Frey and Howard, 1991. Bromley Ichnogeneric names and other terms exhib it ing variants also con sis tently ex pressed a pref er ence for such names, de rived ul ti mately from ichnos, in clud ing its di min u tive e.g., Oichnus Bromley, 1981, Phoebichnus Bromley and ichnion (“lit tle track” or “lit tle trace”). Not all of these Asgaard, 1972. The practice has been very wide spread in vari ants are proper; some are de lib er ate mis spell ings in verte brate and in verte brate ichnology; nearly half of all substi tute names for older, unavail able ichnogenera valid inver te brate ichnogenera have names end ing in -ichnus (Knaust, 2012). Variant Ichnogenus or other term Meaning Many vari ations on ÇP<@l have been employed as well of ichnos (Ta ble 1). The Ancient Greek can be tran scribed in Latin Lanicoidichna Chamberlain, 1971 Lanice-like trace -ichna char ac ters as ichnos or latinized as ichnus. It may be femi- Undichna Anderson, 1976 wave trace nized as ichna or neutered as ichnum, prac tices that are not ichni- Ichniotherium Pohlig, 1892 little track beast strictly cor rect grammat i cally, but which serve to vary the -ichnia Pilichnia Chamberlain, 1971 little pillar trace language. A di minu tive form may be used (ichnion or ich- -ichnion domichnion Seilacher, 1953 little dwelling trace nium, “lit tle trace”). And the root may be used to begin a Mammillichnis Chamberlain, 1971 breast trace -ichnis word instead of ending it (ichn-). Circulichnis Vyalov, 1971 circle trace The root ÇP<@l has been valu able to ichnologists in the Climactichnites Logan, 1860 ladder trace -ichnites past, but is now perhaps overused. Hitchcock him self was ichnite Hitchcock, 1837 ancient trace not so con strained as to use a single root in every new name. little trace Ichnium Pabst, 1896 The purpose of this arti cle is to suggest alter native Latin and -ichnium light (not heavy) little Kouphichnium Nopcsa, 1923 trace Greek roots for construct ing new generic names of trace fossils. But first, the Indo-Euro pean ori gin of ÇP<@l is ex - ichno- Ichnocumulus Seilacher, 1956 trace heap plored and its cognates are identi fied. Acanthichnus Hitchcock, 1858 thorn trace Chomatichnus Donaldson & mound trace Simpson, 1962 double flute trace Didymaulichnus Young, 1972 six-foot trace or hexapod ET Y MOL OGY OF }3O;?G Hexapodichnus Hitchcock, 1858 trace Imbrichnus Hallam, 1970 shingle trace Isopodichnus Bornemann, 1889 isopod trace The root most com monly used by ichnologists is the Ixalichnus Callison, 1970 leaping trace latinized Greek ichn-, deriv ing from An cient Greek ÇP<@l Lobichnus Kemper, 1968 lobe trace (ichnos), “trace, track, footprint” . This word is of obscure -ichnus Margaritichnus Bandel, 1973 rosary trace ori gin, but may be related to @ÇP<gT (oichneu), “to go, to Monomorphichnus Crimes, 1970 one-shape trace come” (Chantraine, 1968–1980, pp. 474, 788–789). If so, Ormathichnus Miller, 1880 chain trace Petalichnus Miller, 1880 broad trace or leaf trace then its ul timate or igin is from a Proto-Indo-Euro pean root, Sagittichnus Seilacher, 1953 arrow trace *ik(h)-, ig(h)-, or eigh-, “to go,” it self an exten sion of an Teichichnus Seilacher, 1955 (city) wall trace ear lier *ei- “to go” (Partridge, 1963, p. 303, 905; Watkins, Treptichnus Miller, 1889 turned trace 2000, p. 22). The aster isk in dicates a recon structed form Trichichnus Frey, 1970 hair trace Tylichnus Osgood, 1970 knot trace that is not attested in any writ ten source. I have lo cated no ichny- Ichnyspica Linck, 1949 trace ear (of grain) con vinc ing ev i dence of cog nates of ichnos in other lan- guages, al though the Proto-Indo-Euro pean root has de scen - dants in several languages. The word may have been used would be possi ble to distin guish names of trace fossils from for the first time in Proto-Greek, the unwrit ten language that body fos sils by their char ac ter is tic end ings”; however, an was an ces tral to the Greek di a lects. in spec tion of Häntzschel’s copy of Jardine’s work shows no }3P<@l has left few other descen dants in the English such recom menda tion. Jardine (1853) did, however, give all language. An ichnograph is a plan view (“foot print writ - but one of his new ichnogenera names end ing with -ichnus, ing”) of a building in archi tec ture. To the Greeks, an ich- and referred to Hoplichnus Hitchcock, 1848.