Geological Society, London, Special Publications Tetrapod footprints - their use in biostratigraphy and biochronology of the Triassic Hendrik Klein and Spencer G. Lucas Geological Society, London, Special Publications 2010; v. 334; p. 419-446 doi:10.1144/SP334.14 Email alerting click here to receive free email alerts when new articles cite this service article Permission click here to seek permission to re-use all or part of this article request Subscribe click here to subscribe to Geological Society, London, Special Publications or the Lyell Collection Notes Downloaded by on 15 June 2010 © 2010 Geological Society of London Tetrapod footprints – their use in biostratigraphy and biochronology of the Triassic HENDRIK KLEIN1,* & SPENCER G. LUCAS2 1Ru¨bezahlstraße 1, D-92318 Neumarkt, Germany 2New Mexico Museum of Natural History, 1801 Mountain Road NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104-1375 USA *Corresponding author (e-mail:
[email protected]) Abstract: Triassic tetrapod footprints have a Pangaea-wide distribution; they are known from North America, South America, Europe, North Africa, China, Australia, Antarctica and South Africa. They often occur in sequences that lack well-preserved body fossils. Therefore, the question arises, how well can tetrapod footprints be used in age determination and correlation of stratigraphic units? The single largest problem with Triassic footprint biostratigraphy and biochronology is the non- uniform ichnotaxonomy and evaluation of footprints that show extreme variation in shape due to extramorphological (substrate-related) phenomena. Here, we exclude most of the countless ichnos- pecies of Triassic footprints, and instead we consider ichnogenera and form groups that show distinctive, anatomically-controlled features. Several characteristic footprint assemblages and ichnotaxa have a restricted stratigraphic range and obviously occur in distinct time intervals.