Rhopalondendrina, Wisshak, 2017

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 : 69

Rhopalondendrina igen. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:A6A6E53D-9F78-4B9D-BE32-35AF0A52CA55

Type ichnospecies

Rhopalondendrina avis igen. et isp. nov.

Diagnosis

Bioerosion trace in calcareous skeletal substrates with a tubular, straight to arcuate entrance tunnel leading to a prostrate plexus of ramifying or anastomosing galleries, forming up to a semicircle to one side of the point of entry.

Etymology

Latinised from the ancient Greek ‘ρóπαλον’ (rhopalon), club, and ‘δένδρον’ (dendron), tree, referring to the club-shaped widening of terminal galleries in the type ichnospecies, and acknowledging the corresponding informal naming of the Rhopalondendrina-Form by Ingrid Glaub (1994).

Remarks

Distinguished from Nododendrina by the lack of a vertical node below the point of entry and from Abeliella by the differing principle substrate type. Distinguished from all other dendrinids by the presence of the tubular entrance tunnel and/or the general outline of the plexus.