Taphotaxon Explained

A taphotaxon (from the Greek ταφος, taphos meaning burial and ταξις, taxis meaning ordering) is an invalid taxon based on fossils remains that have been altered in a characteristic way during burial and diagenesis. The fossils so altered have distinctive characteristics that make them appear to be a new taxon, but these characteristics are spurious and do not reflect any significant taxonomic distinction from an existing fossil taxon. The term was first proposed by Spencer G. Lucas in 2001, who particularly applied it to spurious ichnotaxons,^{[1] [2]} but it has since been applied to body fossils such as Nuia (interpreted as cylindrical oncolites formed around filamentous cyanobacteria)^[3] or Ivanovia (thought to be a taphotaxon of Anchicondium or Eugonophyllum);^[4] conulariids,^[5] and crustaceans.^[6]

In his original definition of the term, Lucas emphasized that he was not seeking to create a new field of taphotaxonomy. The term is intended simply as a useful description of a particular type of invalid taxon.^[1] It should not be used indiscriminately, particularly with ichnotaxons, where the fact that an ichnotaxon derives part of its morphology from taphonomic processes may not always render it an invalid ichnotaxon.^[7]

Notes and References

1. Lucas . Spencer G. . Taphotaxon . Lethaia . 2001 . 34 . 30 . 10.1080/002411601300068198 . 19 January 2022.
2. Marchetti . Lorenzo . Voigt . Sebastian . Lucas . Spencer G. . An anatomy-consistent study of the Lopingian eolian tracks of Germany and Scotland reveals the first evidence of the end-Guadalupian mass extinction at low paleolatitudes of Pangea . Gondwana Research . September 2019 . 73 . 32–53 . 10.1016/j.gr.2019.03.013. 146780505 .
3. Vachard . Daniel . Clausen . Sébastien . Palafox . Juan José . Buitrón . Blanca Estela . Devaere . Léa . Hayart . Valentin . Régnier . Sylvie . Lower Ordovician microfacies and microfossils from Cerro San Pedro (San Pedro de la Cueva, Sonora, Mexico), as a westernmost outcrop of the newly defined Nuia Province . Facies . July 2017 . 63 . 3 . 18 . 10.1007/s10347-017-0497-9. 135094816 .
4. Corrochano . Diego . Vachard . Daniel . Remarks on the Cortical Structure of Late Paleozoic "Phylloid Algae" . Journal of Paleontology . September 2014 . 88 . 5 . 1019–1030 . 10.1017/S0022336000057620.
5. Some Middle Paleozoic conulariids (Cnidaria) as possible examples of taphonomic artifacts . Marcello . Simoes. Journal of Taphonomy, Spain . 1 . 3 . 165–186 . 2003.
6. Matos . Suzana Aparecida . Castilho . Antonio Leão . Prado . Ludmila Alves Cadeira do . Bondioli . João Guedes . Varejão . Filipe Giovanini . Custódio . Michele Andriolli . Fürsich . Franz Theodor . Assine . Mario Luis . Simões . Marcello Guimarães . Taphonomy and ontogeny of the brachyuran crab Exucarcinus gonzagai, from the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) Romualdo Formation, Araripe Basin, NE Brazil . Journal of South American Earth Sciences . November 2021 . 111 . 103443 . 10.1016/j.jsames.2021.103443. 237667931 .
7. Macnaughton . Robert B. . Pickerill . Ron K. . Taphonomy and the taxonomy of trace fossils: a commentary . Lethaia . 2003 . 36 . 66–70 . 10.1080/00241160310001191 .