Ichnotaxonomy and ichnospecies

Ichnotaxonomy classify and name trace fossils, an heterogeneous set of sedimentary structures resulting from various animal activities. A uniform vocabulary is needed for palaeoichnology, a discipline now currently used for sedimentological, palaeoecological and palaeoethological studies. The rules of binominal nomenclature (ichnogenus–ichnospecies) established by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature are followed. This artificial approach (parataxonomy) needs to be easy to use, but is rather hard to establish. This brief article deals with general considerations and underlines particularities and difficulties of ichnotaxonomy. It shows that, to be efficient, ichnotaxonomy especially, needs rigour and pragmatism.