Cartonalia: The Occlupanopsida

The Holotypic Occlupanid Research Group has received numerous reports from the field regarding what appear to be small tabs of recycled cardboard in the shape of occlupanids. Several contributors have dutifully submitted samples of these paper-pulp impostors to the HORG office for study.

Despite their uncanny similarity to occlupanids in form and function, exhaustive experiments have demonstrated that these cardboard tags are composed entirely of biodegradable wood fiber, unlike the nearly indelible petrochemicals that characterize phylum Plasticae.

While the relationship of these mimics to kingdom Microsynthera can be debated, their plastic-less nature would inexorably place them in a phylum well outside that of Plasticae generally, and the Occlupanida in particular. While generally they may be commonly referred to as cartonalia, our HORG Board of Taxonomy, ever ready to put their cladistical stamp on the situation, have proposed a new taxonomic system based on the International Code of Nomenclature for plants. HORG places these cartoniform species under Class Occlupanopsida (Occlu=to close, pan= bread, -opsida=appearance of) in Division Chartoniphyta, part of Kingdom Papyrae.

The majority of the Occlupanopsida have been sighted in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. In each instance field researchers report that they are supplanting occlupanids in growing numbers, and are thought to directly compete for the same resources and biomes that occlupanids have long held. Though these species are from an entirely different Kingdom and Phylum altogether, HORG has nonetheless dedicated itself to cataloging and studying this rapidly developing phenomenon of occlupanid-like entities. We entreat any researchers who find new forms of cartonalia to send in samples for further examination.