Corroborating trackmaker identification through footprint functional analysis: the case study of
            <i>Ichniotherium</i>
            and
            <i>Dimetropus</i>

Romano, Marco; Citton, Paolo; Nicosia, Umberto

doi:10.1111/let.12136

Cited by 29 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…; Romano et al . ); (2) digit scratches are deeper in the outer part just after the take‐off phase (when scratch is directed outwards), and in the inner part just before the touchdown phase (when scratch is directed inwards), except between the couples V–VII; and (3) the expulsion rims of the tail mark are always at the inner side of the concave parts of the sinusoid, where the trace is steeper. The asymmetric steepness of the expulsion rims inferred from the 3D model (Fig.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 92%

An unusual Amphisauropus trackway and its implication for understanding seymouriamorph locomotion

Marchetti

Mujal

Bernardi

2017

LET

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Vertebrate ichnology has proved to be a valuable tool for reconstructing tetrapod locomotion. Grounding on 1, the discovery of a new, exceptionally preserved Amphisauropus trackway (Permian Orobic Basin, Northern Italy), showing continuous tail and pedal scratch impressions; and 2, a comparative analysis of track and bony records, we provide a first synapomorphy‐based attribution of Amphisauropus tracks to their most plausible producers, seymouriamorph reptiliomorphs, and propose a detailed reconstruction of the locomotion biomechanics in this group. The markedly sinuous and continuous tail impression with a relatively constant width, the curve arrangement of pedal scratches and the inferred position of head, trunk and tail during the locomotion suggest large lateral movements, while vertical movements were nearly absent, consistently with a primitive sprawling gait. We also document the functional prevalence of the hindlimbs and provide a detailed description of femur biomechanics during step cycle. Trackway parameters suggest that the speed was quite slow: a comparison with a large database of Amphisauropus trackways from Italy and Germany proves that this peculiar preservation was gait‐ and substrate‐related, rather than trackmaker‐related. In all, this study sheds light on the locomotion of Seymouriamorpha and aimed to contribute to a full integration of track and skeletal data in exploring locomotory biomechanics of extinct tetrapods.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 92%

An unusual Amphisauropus trackway and its implication for understanding seymouriamorph locomotion

Marchetti

Mujal

Bernardi

2017

LET

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“…11 and 12). The fleshy pad behind the basipodials actively contacted the ground most likely during the touch-down and weight-bearing phase, as was already inferred from footprint depth of impression in other producers (e.g., Romano, Citton & Nicosia, 2016; Citton et al, 2017). Thus, from a functional standpoint, the autopod posture of the Pentasauropus trackmaker can be regarded as plantiportal ( sensu Michilsens et al, 2009) and it is considered to have been maintained during different gaits.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 68%

Triassic pentadactyl tracks from the Los Menucos Group (Río Negro province, Patagonia Argentina): possible constraints on the autopodial posture of Gondwanan trackmakers

Citton

Díaz-Martínez

Valais

et al. 2018

PeerJ

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The Los Menucos locality in Patagonia, Argentina, bears a well-known ichnofauna mostly documented by small therapsid footprints. Within this ichnofauna, large pentadactyl footprints are also represented but to date were relatively underinvestigated. These footprints are here analyzed and discussed based on palaeobiological indications (i.e., trackmaker identification). High resolution digital photogrammetry method was performed to achieve a more objective representation of footprint three-dimensional morphologies. The footprints under study are compared with Pentasauropus from the Upper Triassic lower Elliot Formation (Stormberg Group) of the Karoo Basin (Lesotho, southern Africa). Some track features suggest a therapsid-grade synapsid as the potential trackmaker, to be sought among anomodont dicynodonts (probably Kannemeyeriiformes). While the interpretation of limb posture in the producer of Pentasauropus tracks from the Los Menucos locality agrees with those described from the dicynodont body fossil record, the autopodial posture does not completely agree. The relative distance between the impression of the digital (ungual) bases and the distal edge of the pad trace characterizing the studied tracks likely indicates a subunguligrade foot posture (i.e., standing on the last and penultimate phalanges) in static stance, but plantiportal (i.e., the whole foot skeleton and related soft tissues are weight-bearing) during the dynamics of locomotion. The reconstructed posture might have implied an arched configuration of the articulated metapodials and at least of the proximal phalanges, as well as little movement capabilities of the metapodials. Usually, a subunguligrade-plantiportal autopod has been described for gigantic animals (over six hundreds kilograms of body weight) to obtain an efficient management of body weight. Nevertheless, this kind of autopod is described here for large but not gigantic animals, as the putative trackmakers of Pentasauropus were. This attribution implies that such an autopodial structure was promoted independently from the body size in the putative trackmakers. From an evolutionary point of view, subunguligrade-plantiportal autopods not necessarily must be related with an increase in body size, but rather the increase in body size requires a subunguligrade or unguligrade, plantiportal foot. Chronostratigraphically, Pentasauropus was reported from Upper Triassic deposits of South Africa and United States, and from late Middle Triassic and Upper Triassic deposits of Argentina. Based on the stratigraphic distribution of the ichnogenus currently accepted, a Late Triassic age is here proposed for the Pentasauropus-bearing levels of the Los Menucos Group.

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“…Dimetropus tracks have been found from the middle Moscovian to the middle Kungurian (Tucker & Smith, 2004; Voigt & Lucas, 2015). The trackmakers are considered to have been non-therapsid synapsids (‘pelycosaurs’) such as sphenacodonts, caseids, edaphosaurids, and ophiacodontids (Haubold, 2000; Voigt, 2005; Voigt & Ganzelewski, 2010; Romano, Citton & Nicosia, 2016). …”

Section: Systematic Palaeoichnologymentioning

confidence: 99%

A revision of tetrapod footprints from the late Carboniferous of the West Midlands, UK

Meade¹,

Jones²,

Butler³

2016

PeerJ

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A series of sandstone slabs from Hamstead, Birmingham (West Midlands, UK), preserve an assemblage of tetrapod trackways and individual tracks from the Enville Member of the Salop Formation (late Carboniferous: late Moscovian–Kasimovian). This material has received limited previous study, despite being one of the few British sites to preserve Carboniferous tetrapod footprints. Here, we restudy and revise the taxonomy of this material, and document it using 3D models produced using photogrammetry. The assemblage is dominated by large tracks assigned to Limnopus isp., which were made by early amphibians (temnospondyls). A number of similar but smaller tracks are assigned to Batrachichnus salamandroides (also made by temnospondyls). Dimetropus leisnerianus (made by early synapsids) and Dromopus lacertoides (made by lizard-like sauropsids such as araeoscelids) are also present. This ichnofauna contrasts with a slightly stratigraphically older, more extensive and better-studied assemblage from Alveley (Shropshire), which is dominated by small amphibians with relatively rare reptiliomorphs, but which lacks Dromopus tracks. The presence of Dromopus lacertoides at Hamstead is consistent with the trend towards increasing aridity through the late Carboniferous. It is possible that the assemblage is the stratigraphically oldest occurrence of this important amniote ichnotaxon.

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Corroborating trackmaker identification through footprint functional analysis: the case study of Ichniotherium and Dimetropus

Cited by 29 publications

References 22 publications

An unusual Amphisauropus trackway and its implication for understanding seymouriamorph locomotion

An unusual Amphisauropus trackway and its implication for understanding seymouriamorph locomotion

Triassic pentadactyl tracks from the Los Menucos Group (Río Negro province, Patagonia Argentina): possible constraints on the autopodial posture of Gondwanan trackmakers

A revision of tetrapod footprints from the late Carboniferous of the West Midlands, UK

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