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

ABSTRACT: 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

SUBMITTER: Citton P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6086091 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature