CONICET, IIPG - Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología (Universidad Nacional de Río Negro-CONICET), Av. Roca 1242, General Roca, 8332, Río Negro, Argentina.
Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU, Facultad de Ciencia y Tecnología, Departamento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Bilbao, Apartado 644, E-48080, Bizkaia, Spain.
Sci Rep. 2020 Jan 24;10(1):1099. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-57438-4.
We present a new locality with at least 880 vertebrate tracks found at the top of a limestone bed from the lower Miocene Tudela Formation (Spain). The trampled surface was formed by artiodactyls that crossed a muddy carbonate accumulated under the influence of water level variations in a palustrine environment. The tracks reflect different types of morphological preservation. The well-preserved tracks have tetradactyl digit impressions caused by both manus and pes, and are the type series of a new artiodactyl ichnotaxon, Fustinianapodus arriazui ichnogen. nov. and ichnosp. nov. The rest of the tracks, which are not as well preserved, are didactyl and were classified as undetermined artiodactyl tracks. According to their preservation, morphology, size, arrangement and orientation, we propose that this tracksite is the product of a social behaviour, particularly gregariousness, of a multi-age group of artiodactyls ~19 Ma ago. The morphologic and palaeoecologic data presented here suggest that the trackmakers were a group of anthracotheres with a livelihood similar to current hippos. They crossed, periodically, a fresh water palustrine area along some preferential pathways (trails).
我们介绍了一个新的地点，在西班牙下中新统图德拉组（Tudela Formation）顶部的石灰岩床上发现了至少 880 个脊椎动物足迹。踩踏表面是由偶蹄类动物形成的，它们穿过在水位变化影响下在沼泽环境中积累的泥泞碳酸盐。这些足迹反映了不同类型的形态保存。保存完好的足迹具有由手和脚引起的四趾数字印象，是一种新的偶蹄类足迹形态类型，Fustinianapodus arriazui 足迹属和种的新模式。其余的足迹保存得不太好，是二趾的，并被归类为未确定的偶蹄类足迹。根据它们的保存状态、形态、大小、排列和方向，我们提出这个足迹地点是 1900 万年前左右一群多龄偶蹄类动物的群居行为的产物。这里提出的形态和古生态学数据表明，造迹者是一群类似于现代河马的水豚，它们周期性地穿过一个淡水沼泽地区，沿着一些优先路径（小径）。
