Revision of Late Permian tetrapod tracks from the Dolomites (Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy)

Abstract

The Val Gardena Formation of the Dolomites region in northern Italy preserves the most significant assemblage of Late Permian tetrapod footprints in the world. More than 120 years of collecting resulted in about 900 publicly accessible specimens from the study area. This huge amount of data is comprehensively revised in the light of recent advances in the study of Late Palaeozoic – Early Mesozoic tetrapod ichnofossils. According to our analyses, the Val Gardena Sandstone Formation includes tracks that can be assigned to cf. Batrachichnus isp. (temnospondyl amphibian), Capitosauroides isp. (amphibian), Dicynodontipus isp. (cynodont therapsid), Dolomitipes accordii n. igen. n. comb. (dicynodont therapsid), cf. Dromopus isp. (neodiapsid), Pachypes dolomiticus (pareiasaurian parareptile), Paradoxichnium problematicum (archosauromorph neodiapsid), Procolophonichnium tirolensis n. comb. (procolophonoid parareptile), cf. Protochirotherium isp. (archosauriform neodiapsid) and Rhynchosauroides pallinii (neodiapsid). The ichnoassociation is dominated by tracks of neodiapsid and parareptilian tetrapods, whereas synapsid and anamniote tracks are rather minor components. It includes 10 out of 12 tetrapod ichnogenera known from Lopingian deposits and thus it constitutes a reference for the Paradoxichnium biochron. It shows striking similarities with other low-latitude non-aeolian contemporaneous ichnoassociations of Europe and North Africa, differences may be linked to the palaeoenvironment. Moreover, it shows a clear Triassic affinity.

The new ichnogenus Dolomitipes was registered in Zoobank.org. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:5B4D871C-D16A-4E93-8211-CEE08019BA60

Keywords:

• Vertebrate ichnology
• early amniotes
• biostratigraphy
• palaeoecology
• P/T boundary

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Umberto Nicosia, Maria Rita Palombo, Linda Riti, Paolo Citton,(University ‘La Sapienza’ of Rome), Mariagabriella Fornasiero (Museum of Geology and Palaeontology, Padua University), Ursula Thun Hohenstein, Roberta Pancaldi (Palaeontological Museum ‘Piero Leonardi’, Ferrara University), Massimo Bernardi, Riccardo Tomasoni (MUSE –Museum of Sciences, Trento), Elio Dellantonio, Daniele Rossi (Geological Museum of the Dolomites, Predazzo), Christian Weber (Geoparc Bletterbach) and Evelyn Kustatscher (Museum of Nature South Tyrol, Bolzano) for access to material in their care. We would like to thank Marco Avanzini, Massimo Bernardi, Fabio M. Petti and E. Kustatscher who invited us to join their research project and Massimo Bernardi and Fabio M. Petti who contributed to a previous version of the manuscript. We thank Spencer G. Lucas and an anonymous reviewer for the helpful suggestions. The Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung financed the research of LM. The study of Italian Late Permian tetrapod footprints by SV and HK was enabled by financial support from the project ‘The Permian–Triassic Ecological Crisis in the Dolomites: Extinction and Recovery Dynamics in Terrestrial Ecosystems’ financed by the Promotion of Educational Policies, University and Research Department of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol nr. 17/2009 (COBZ090017).