Meanings
- biologyA level of taxonomical classification of trace fossils.
A recent paper by a team from Brazil described a new ichnospecies of these tracks: Brasilichnium saltatorium.
2017 March 22, Elsa Panciroli, The Guardian, Walking in the footsteps of giants and gerbils: what fossil prints can tell us2 more examples
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.
2000, Martin Lockley, Christian Meyer, Dinosaur Tracks and Other Fossil Footprints of Europe, Columbia University Press, page 112Oldhamia 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).
2016, M. Gabriela Mángano, Luis A. Buatois, “3: The Cambrian Explosion”, in M. Gabriela Mángano, Luis A. Buatois, editors, The Trace-Fossil Record of Major Evolutionary Events: Volume 1, Springer, page 85
Origin
From ichno- (“trace”) + species, suggesting an analogy with the species level of the taxonomy of organisms.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French ichnoespèce
- ichnoespècelevel of classification of trace fossils
German Ichnospezies
- Ichnospezieslevel of classification of trace fossils
Italian icnospecie
- icnospecielevel of classification of trace fossils
Cite this entry
ichnospecies. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ichnospecies
“ichnospecies.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ichnospecies. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ichnospecies,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ichnospecies.
Source: ichnospecies on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.