Acta Palaeontologica Polonica

Lower Triassic footprints from the Świętokrzyskie (Holy Cross) Mountains, Poland

Ryszard Fuglewicz, Tadeusz Ptaszyński, and Kazimierz Rdzanek

Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 35 (3-4), 1990: 109-164

A tetrapod footprints assemblage from the Middle Buntsandstein labyrinthodontid beds, NE Swietokrzyskie Mts, appears to be the oldest known from the Triassic of Europe. It comprises 8 taxa: cf. Capitosauroides sp., Chirotherium hauboldf sp.n., Isochirotherium sanctacrucense sp.n., Isochirotherium sp., Brachychirotherium kuhni Demathieu et Haubold, 1982, Symptichnium chirotherioides sp.n., Rhynchosauroides brevidigitatus sp.n. and R. polonicus sp.n. Footprints are preserved chiefly as casts on the sole surfaces, rarely as imprints on the upper surfaces of sandstones. Skin textures of chirotheriids have been noticed. Formation and preservation of prints as well as their rekitionship to facies are discussed. Mode and di~ectwn of motmn of trackmakers and general characteristics of the environment in which their activity took place are reconstructed. Age and tectonic framework of the labyrinthodontic beds formation are briefly cliscussed.

Key words: tetrapods, footprints, parataxonomy, taphonomy, stratigraphy, Lower Triassic, Poland.


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