''Oldhamia'' is an

ichnogenus An ichnotaxon (plural ichnotaxa) is "a taxon based on the fossilized work of an organism", i.e. the non-human equivalent of an artifact. ''Ichnotaxa'' comes from the Greek ίχνος, ''ichnos'' meaning ''track'' and ταξις, ''taxis'' meaning ...

describing burrows produced by worm-like organisms mining underneath microbial mats. It was common from the Early Cambrian deep-water deposits. The

Ediacaran The Ediacaran Period ( ) is a geological period that spans 96 million years from the end of the Cryogenian Period 635 million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Cambrian Period 538.8 Mya. It marks the end of the Proterozoic Eon, and t ...

species ''Oldhamia recta'' are body fossils of a rod-like organism, rather than ichnofossils. The Ordovician ''Oldhamia pinnata'' and Carboniferous-Permian ''Oldhamia fimbriata'' were mentioned without any ichnotaxonomical formalization, and therefore are ''

nomina nuda In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate desc ...

''. It was named after the geologist Thomas Oldham.

References

Burrow fossils Fortunian {{cambrian-stub

See also

References