Ichnotaxonomic revisions of arthropod trackways, trails, and imprints

This project aims to revise the ichnotaxonomy of arthropod trackways, trails, and imprints by making first-hand observations of specimens in museum collections in the USA and Europe; and will utilize my 15+ years of experience of working on arthropod trace fossils, as well as involvement in pioneering the principles and new methodologies for ichnotaxonomy. There has been a surge in recent years in the number of high-profile papers using trace fossils in meta-analyses for understanding major evolutionary events. However, macroevolutionary and macroecological analyses utilizing trace fossils need to be underpinned by robust ichnotaxonomy to provide reliable units of measurement and frameworks for analysis. It is nearly 50 years since the last publication of the synoptic Part W: Trace Fossils and Problematica of the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology and, in that time, over 70 new arthropod trackway, trail, and imprint ichnogenera (almost two-thirds of the present total) have been named. Evaluation and revision of these ichnogenera is therefore timely if we are to have a firm foundation for the future study of trace fossils.