New localities of Late Eocene vertebrate footprints from the Tarom Mountains, Northwestern Iran

Abstract

We document Late Eocene vertebrate footprints from the Tarom Mountains of Iran that represent a significant addition to the record of proboscidean and perissodactyl footprints. These footprints are from sandstones and tuffaceous sandstones of strata equivalent to the Kond Formation that overlie middle Eocene sedimentary rocks and are overlain by Oligocene volcanics. The footprints are preserved at 16 tracksites from 10 distinct stratigraphic levels. The mammal footprints include the oldest known proboscidean tracks, assigned to Proboscipeda enigmatica Panin & Avram and to cf. Proboscipeda isp. Evident perissodactyl tracks are common, tridactyl footprints with distinct digit shapes and proportions assigned to the new ichnogenus and ichnospecies Moropopus elongatus. Footprints of small, hopping, rodent-like mammals are identified as Musaltipes taromi new ichnospecies. Other mammal footprints from the Tarom tracksites are indeterminate, and bird footprints are assigned to Avipeda isp. The Tarom tracksites document the oldest record of proboscidean footprints, and this indicates that proboscideans had reached the northern shore of Tethys by Late Eocene time. The abundance and distinctiveness of the Tarom perissodactyl tracks mirrors the abundance and diversity of moropomorph perissodactyls during the Middle-Late Eocene. The Tarom tracksites are the most extensive record of Eocene vertebrate footprints known from Iran.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:F430F9DB-728F-4162-9791-DC2A5CC5ED43

Keywords:

• Eocene
• Ichnology
• vertebrate footprint
• Tarom Mountains
• Iran

Acknowledgments

We thank Mr. Farzad Shabani, spouse of Shima Alinasiri, who helped us in the field study. We are indebted to George Mustoe (Western Washington University) and an anonymous reviewer for fruitful discussions and suggestions that improved this work. We thank Dr. Rahim Shabanian of Payam Nor University for his help.