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

Abstract

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.

Synapsid tracks with skin impressions illuminate the terrestrial tetrapod diversity in the earliest Permian of equatorial Pangea

“…Fossil tracks and trackways attributed to the ichnotaxon Dimetropus have been described from numerous strata encompassing the upper Carboniferous and the lower Permian of the United States 63 , 64 , 70 , 71 , Canada 65 , United Kingdom 72 , Germany 60 , 62 , 73 , France 66 , 74 , Poland 75 , 76 , Italy 77 , Spain 78 – 80 , and Morocco 81 – 83 . Dimetropus tracks have been generally affiliated with representatives of various non-therapsid synapsid groups, such as early sphenacodontians, ophiacodotids, edaphosaurids, caseids, and varanopids 57 , 60 , 62 , 64 , 67 , 73 , 75 , 76 , 84 – 87 .…”

Upper Paleozoic to Lower Mesozoic Tetrapod Ichnology Revisited: Photogrammetry and Relative Depth Pattern Inferences on Functional Prevalence of Autopodia

“…We conducted a qualitative analysis aiming to identify and classify depth patterns among tetrapod ichnotaxa from the upper Carboniferous to the Middle Triassic (see section "Relative Depth Patterns on Permian to Triassic Tetrapod Footprints" below). The database includes new data and a review of the published 3D data (de Klerk, 2002;Mujal et al, 2015Mujal et al, , 2016aMujal et al, ,b, 2017aMujal et al, ,b, 2018bCitton et al, 2016Citton et al, , 2018Citton et al, , 2019aCitton et al, ,b, 2020Meade et al, 2016;Milàn et al, 2016;Marchetti et al, 2017aMarchetti et al, ,b, 2018aMarchetti et al, ,b, 2019bFrancischini et al, 2018Francischini et al, , 2020Lagnaoui et al, 2019;Marchetti, 2019;Cavin and Piuz, 2020;Cisneros et al, 2020;Farman and Bell, 2020;Mujal and Marchetti, 2020;Mujal and Schoch, 2020;Reolid et al, 2020). Note that the number of tracks and localities from the upper Carboniferous is notably lower than those from the lower Permian.…”

Invertebrate trace fossils from the Alveley Member, Salop Formation (Pennsylvanian, Carboniferous), Shropshire, UK

“…The Enville Member has also yielded vertebrate and invertebrate ichnofossils (e.g. Hardaker 1912;Meade et al 2016).…”