Ichnotaxon

Due to the chaotic nature of trace fossil classification, several ichnogenera hold names normally affiliated with animal body fossils or plant fossils. For example, many ichnogenera are named with the suffix -phycus due to misidentification as algae. Edward Hitchcock was the first to use the now common -ichnus suffix in 1858, with Cochlichnus. ==History==

Due to ichnofossils' history of being difficult to classify, there have been several attempts to enforce consistency in the naming of ichnotaxa. The first edition of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, published in 1961, ruled that names of taxa published after 1930 should be 'accompanied by a statement that purports to give characters differentiating the taxon'. This had the effect that names for most ichnofossil taxa published after 1930 were unavailable under the code. This restriction was removed for ichnotaxa in the third edition of the code, published in 1985. == See also ==