A taphotaxon (from the Greek ταφος, ''taphos'' meaning ''burial'' and ταξις, ''taxis'' meaning ''ordering'') is an invalid

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

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 Spencer George Lucas is an American paleontologist and stratigrapher, and curator of paleontology at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. His main areas of study are late Paleozoic, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic vertebrate fossils ...

in 2001, who particularly applied it to spurious ichnotaxons, but it has since been applied to body fossils such as ''Nuia'' (interpreted as cylindrical

oncolite Oncolites are sedimentary structures composed of oncoids, which are layered structures formed by cyanobacterial growth. Oncolites are very similar to stromatolites, but, instead of forming columns, they form approximately spherical structures. T ...

s formed around filamentous

cyanobacteria Cyanobacteria (), also known as Cyanophyta, are a phylum of gram-negative bacteria that obtain energy via photosynthesis. The name ''cyanobacteria'' refers to their color (), which similarly forms the basis of cyanobacteria's common name, blu ...

) or '' Ivanovia'' (thought to be a taphotaxon of '' Anchicondium '' or '' Eugonophyllum'');

conulariid Conulariida is a poorly understood fossil group that has possible affinity with the Cnidaria. Their exact position as a taxon of extinct medusozoan cnidarians is highly speculative. Members of the Conulariida are commonly referred to as conularii ...

s, and

crustaceans Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

. 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. 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.

References

Biological classification Trace fossils Zoological nomenclature {{biology-stub