Ichnospecies

A recent paper by a team from Brazil described a new ichnospecies of these tracks: Brasilichnium saltatorium.

There is certainly little discussion of distinctive features that warrant the establishment of new ichnospecies. In short, the ichnospecies labels are something of a compromise. By this we mean that the use of familiar ichnogenera (Grallator, Eubrontes, and Batrachopus) acknowledges similarity, whereas the use of new ichnospecies names conveys the suggestion that the track assemblages are distinct in some way.

Oldhamia encompasses six ichnospecies, O. alata, O. antiqua, O. curvata, O. flabellata, O. geniculata, and O. radiata, all of them present in lower Cambrian rocks, with a few ichnospecies persisting into the middle Cambrian (Fig. 3.5) (Seilacher et al. 2005; Herbosch and Verniers 2011; Jensen et al. 2013).