Nododendrina Vogel, Golubic & Brett, 1987

Wisshak, Max, 2017, Taming an ichnotaxonomical Pandora’s box: revision of dendritic and rosetted microborings (ichnofamily: Dendrinidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 390, pp. 1-99 : 52-53

Nododendrina Vogel, Golubic & Brett, 1987

Hyellomorpha Vogel et al., 1987: 275.

Semidendrina Bromley et al., 2007: 528.

Type ichnospecies

Nododendrina nodosa Vogel, Golubic & Brett, 1987 , by original designation.

Original diagnosis

Prostrate, rosette-shaped boring system with an enlarged node (pit) in the central area.

Emended diagnosis

Rosette-shaped boring system in calcareous skeletal substrates with one or more largely prostrate plexuses of branching and anastomosing galleries emerging from an often vertically oriented globular node below the point of entry, and connected to the substrate surface via numerous small apertures.

Remarks

Nododendrina was erected by Vogel et al. (1987) on the basis of considering both Clionolithes Clarke, 1908 and Olkenbachia Solle, 1938 , and all their original ichnospecies, as nomina dubia due to the presumably inadequate preservation of the type material and the poor original illustrations. Together with Platydendrina and Ramodendrina, the new ichnogenus was proposed as a replacement ichnogenus. This procedure is not followed here and Clionolithes is considered to be valid (see above). However, Nododendrina describes a morphological group of dendrinids that is distinct from all previous ichnogenus diagnoses by addressing those rosette-shaped microborings that originate from a distinctly enlarged and vertically oriented node (as expressed also in the ichnogenus etymology), from which one or several prostrate plexuses emerge. The fourth dendrinid ichnogenus proposed by Vogel et al. (1987), Hyellomorpha, is regarded as a junior synonym since it is distinguished from Nododendrina solely on the basis of its smaller size, which is, if at all, a secondary ichnospecific ichnotaxobase. Yet another junior synonym is Semidendrina Bromley et al., 2007, which shares all the features of Nododendrina , except for having only one plexus emerging from the initial node, which in consequence is not located in the centre of the trace. This rather small morphological difference does not merit a separate ichnogenus.

Nododendrina is clearly distinguished from all other dendrinid ichnogenera by the presence of its distinct and often vertically oriented lateral or central node below the initial point of entry, and by an anastomosing plexus with common spiny to hairy apophyses that partly form numerous secondary connections to the substrate surface.