Machichnus

{{Short description|Trace fossil}}

{{Ichnobox

| taxon = Machichnus

| authority = Mikuláš et al., 2006

| type_ichnospecies = Machichnus regularis

| type_ichnospecies_authority = Mikuláš et al., 2006

| subdivision_ranks = Ichnospecies

| subdivision_ref = {{cite journal|last1=Wisshak|first1=M.|last2=Knaust|first2=D.|last3=Bertling|first3=M.|year=2019|title=Bioerosion ichnotaxa: review and annotated list|journal=Facies|volume=65|issue=2|page=24|doi=10.1007/s10347-019-0561-8}}

| subdivision =

• M. regularis {{small|Mikuláš et al., 2006}}
• M. bohemicus {{small|Mikuláš et al., 2006}}
• M. multilineatus {{small|Mikuláš et al., 2006}}
• M. normani {{small|Chumakov et al., 2013}}
• M. harlandi {{small|Chumakov et al., 2013}}
• M. jeansi {{small|Chumakov et al., 2013}}
• M. fatimae {{small|de Araújo-Júnior et al., 2017}}

}}

Machichnus is an ichnogenus. It was erected by Mikuláš et al. (2006) for shallow, thin, discrete, parallel to subparallel, smooth-bottomed scratches, occurring on bone tissue in small groups or series. According to modern analogues, the series of scratches represent marks of teeth of carnivorous or scavenging reptilians and mammals. Such traces are quite frequent in the fossil record since the mid-Mesozoic, but they have seldom been described in detail.

The type species/specimen of Machichnus comes from the Miocene of the Czech Republic. In this case, crocodiles are suspect as tracemakers.Mikuláš R., Kadlecová E., Fejfar O., Dvořák Z. (2007): Three New Ichnogenera of Biting and Gnawing Traces on Reptilian and Mammalian Bones: A Case Study from the Miocene of the Czech Republic. Ichnos, 13, p. 113–127.

Machichnus originally contained three ichnospecies: Machichnus regularis, Machichnus multilineatus, and Machichnus bohemicus. The ichnogenera Brutalichnus and Nihilichnus were described in the same paper.