Ichnostratigraphy - Trace Fossils as Indicators of Sedimentary Environments - page 193

TABLE 1 Summary of Tetrapod-Footprint Stratigraphy ( Based on

Lucas, 2007 )

Period/epoch Diagnostic characteristics Representative ichnotaxa

Neogene - Dominance of trackways

produced by derived
ungulates

Macrauchenichnus,
Venatoripes, Megatherichnum,
Neomegatherichnum,
Eumacrauchenichnus, and
Odocoileinichnum

Paleogene - Abundance of trackways

produced by basal ungulates

Sarjeantipes, Quirtipes, and
Albertasuchipes

Late
Cretaceous

- Appearance of ceratopsian,
tyrannosaurid, and
hadrosaurid footprints

Haenamichnus and
Ceratopsipes

Early
Cretaceous

- Dominance of sauropod
trackways

Parabrontopodus,
Brontopodus, Iguanodontipus,
Caririchnium, Ignotormis, and
Aquatilavipes

- Presence of ornithopod and

bird tracks

Middle-Late
Jurassic

- Increase in the size of tracks
- Dominance of theropod,
sauropod, and ornithopod
trackways

Carmelopodus,
Megalosauripus,
Gigantosauropus,
Parabrontopodus,
Breviparopus, and Dinehichnus

Early Jurassic - Dominance of non-avian

theropod footprints

Eubrontes, Anomoepus, and
Ameghinichnus

Late Triassic - Higher diversity of dinosaur-

like and dinosaur footprints
- Dinosaur assemblage

Tetrasauropus,
Pseudotetrasuropus, Grallator,
and Atreipus

Late Middle
Triassic

- Appearance of tridactyl
bipedal trackways that have
been attributed to dinosaur or
dinosaur-like organisms
- Dinosauromorph assemblage

Parachirotherium, Atreipus,
and Grallator

“Early” Triassic
to early Middle
Triassic

- Dominance of archosaur
trackways
- Chirothere assemblage

Chirotherium, Isochirotherium,
Rotodactylus,
Brachychirotherium, and
Synaptichnium

Earliest Triassic
(Induan)

- Dicynodont tracks None