Detrital events within pelagic deposits of the Umbria-Marche basin (Northern Apennines, Italy). Further evidence of Early Cretaceous tectonics

Re-sedimented deposits characterize different stratigraphical intervals in the pelagic successions of the Umbria-Marche-Sabina Domain (Central and Northern Apennines, Italy). Three stratigraphic sections of the Maiolica and Marne a Fucoidi Formations, characterized by breccias and calcarenites embedded in pelagic sediments, were sampled across the Mt. Primo area (Umbria- Marche Ridge, Northern Apennines). Facies analysis indicates a gravity-driven origin for the clastic levels, interpreted as debris-flows, or turbidity flows. The massive lensoid-to-tabular levels are composed of loose shallow-water benthic material, sourced from an unknown carbonate platform, associated with: i) lithoclasts made of Lower Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous shallow-water carbonates; ii) Jurassic mudstones and wackestones referable to the pelagic succession; iii) calpionellid/radiolarian-rich soft pebbles (Maiolica-type facies). The compositional features of the studied detrital deposits imply submarine exposure and dismantling of portions of the stratigraphic succession older than the Barremian/Aptian, which had to be buried in the late Early Cretaceous. Such evidence led us to refer the investigated clastic event to an extensional tectonic phase. Our interpretation well fits with data coming from different geological settings of Italy, strongly suggesting the occurrence of a widespread extensional phase in the late Early Cretaceous

Elongated theropod tracks from the Cretaceous Apenninic Carbonate Platform of southern Latium (central Italy)

New dinosaur footprints were recently discovered in southern Latium (Italy). The tracks all appear slightly differently preserved and are characterized by elongated metatarsal impressions, recording the complex locomotor behaviour of a medium-sized theropod. The spatial distribution and the features of the footprints indicate that the trackmaker adopted a “crouched” position as part of an activity as well as a resting phase suggested by sub-parallel, calcigrade tracks. These new data once again highlight the great potential of ichnological evidence in the study of the biology and behaviour of extinct tetrapods

L’icnoassociazione a tetrapodi del Bletterbach (Trentino Alto-Adige) e le sue relazioni con gli ecosistemi terrestri di fine Permiano

In questo articolo viene proposta un’analisi aggiornata dell’associazione a impronte di tetrapodi rinvenuta a partire dagli anni ’70 del secolo scorso presso la Gola del Bletterbach (Alpi meridionali, Italia nord-orientale) e una sua contestualizzazione su scala globale basata sull’integrazione di dati paleontologici e climatici. Lo studio evidenzia l’importanza dell’associazione a tetrapodi del Bletterbach quale record eccezionale di un ecosistema terrestre di bassa latitudine durante il Lopingiano (Permiano superiore). I risultati dell’analisi a scala ecosistemica forniscono inoltre evidenza di una forte correlazione tra la distribuzione dei principali cladi di tetrapodi erbivori (dicinodonti, pareiasauri, captorinidi) e la zonazione climatica latitudinale.In this paper we provide an updated review of the tetrapod footprint association discovered in the Bletterbach Gorge (Southern Alps, NE Italy) from the ‘70s. We provide global-scale analysis integrating paleontological and climatic data highlight the importance of the Bletterbach ichnoassociation as key reference for low-latitude terrestrial ecosystems during the Lopingian (Late Permian). Our results provide evidence for a tight correlation between the distribution of the main herbivorous tetrapod clades (dicynodonts, pareiasaurs, captorhinids) and the latitudinal climatic zonation

Tetrapod ichnology in Italy: the state of the art Guest editorial

This year, 2020, marks the 150th anniversary of the seminal work by Giulio Curioni (1870), representing the first published scientific contribution on tetrapod footprints from Italy. We took this opportunity to discuss the current state of the art on tetrapod ichnology in our country, with a jubilee volume, titled “Tetrapod ichnology in Italy: the state of the art”. The volume involves the scholars who first pioneered this discipline in Italy in the seventies of the last century, along with all the authors who have worked on the topic in recent decades, and younger generations who have just started to enthusiastically contribute to vertebrate ichnology. After briefly introducing the idea at the base of the Special Volume, as well as some aspects of the discipline and the current methodologies involved in ichnological studies, we present each of the contributions to serve the Italian ichnological heritage.Fil: Romano, Marco. Università di Roma; ItaliaFil: Citton, Paolo. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Sede Alto Valle. Instituto de Investigaciones en Paleobiología y Geología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

First remains of neoginglymodian actinopterygians from the Jurassic of Monte Nerone area (Umbria-Marche Apennine, Italy)

Since the early nineteenth century, the structural high of Mt. Nerone in the Umbria-Marche-Sabina Domain (UMS - Central/ Northern Apennines, Italy) attracted scholars from all over Europe due to the wealth of fossil fauna preserved in a well-exposed Mesozoic sedimentary succession. Several geo-palaeontological studies were focused on the abundant and diverse invertebrate fauna, whereas contributions dealing with Mesozoic vertebrates were to date virtually lacking. Recently, the first material referable to hybodont sharks, consisting of an articulated crushing dentition, was described from the area and referred to Asteracanthus cf. A. magnus. In this contribution, we report the first evidence of ginglymodian actinopterygians from the Upper Jurassic of Mt. Nerone. The material is represented by seven highly tritorial isolated teeth collected from three classic fossiliferous localities of the area (i.e. Pian del Sasso, Fosso Pisciarello, I Ranchi). The general morphology of the material under study allow us to conservatively refer the teeth to the Neoginglymodi, a clade formed by Lepisosteiformes and Semionotiformes. The occurrence of durophagous organisms, to date represented by hybodont sharks and ginglymodian fishes, reveals interesting palaeoecological scenarios characterizing the pelagic carbonate platform-basin system of Mt. Nerone, which were most likely triggered by large-scale geodynamic processes. The complex submarine palaeotopography, inheritance of the Western Tethys Early Jurassic rifting, aroused the establishment of new infaunal and epifaunal communities opening up unexplored trophic niches for durophagous predators. The particular geodynamic setting of the UMS Domain, consisting of predominantly interconnected structural highs and lows, and the relative evolution of a diverse invertebrate fauna characterized by terebratulid, ostreids, limids, brachiopods, crustaceans, and gastropods, attracted both hybodontids and durophagous ginglymodians in the Tethyan realm, influencing their dispersal during the Late Jurassic.Fil: Romano, Marco. University of the Witwatersrand; Sudáfrica. Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"; Italia. Apennine Team; ItaliaFil: Cipriani, Angelo. Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"; Italia. Apennine Team; ItaliaFil: Fabbi, Simone. Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"; Italia. Apennine Team; Italia. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche; ItaliaFil: Citton, Paolo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Sede Alto Valle. Instituto de Investigaciones en Paleobiología y Geología; Argentina. Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"; Italia. Apennine Team; Italia. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche; Itali

Permian tetrapod localities in the Nurra region (NW Sardinia, Italy): The State of the Art

The Nurra area in NW Sardinia is quite well known for the outcropping of a thick succession of more than 600 m of post‐ Variscan continental deposits (Fig. 1), with several dedicated studies and contribution already starting from the first half of the twentieth century (e.g. Lotti, 1931; Oosterbaan, 1936; Pecorini, 1962; Vardabasso, 1966; Gasperi and Gelmini, 1980)...Fil: Romano, Marco. University of the Witwatersrand; SudáfricaFil: Citton, Paolo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología; ArgentinaFil: Ronchi, Ausonio. Università di Pavia; ItaliaFil: Nicosia, Umberto. Università di Roma; Itali

Human footprints from Italy: the state of the art

The ichnological record of human traces from Italy is rich and quite diversified. In recent years, the development and dissemination of various methodologies and technological facilities has implemented the re-analysis of this record, enabling to reach different, sometimes deeper, interpretations favoured by the integration of external data, both geological and palaeontological. The oldest occurrence of the human ichnological record from Italy is represented by the Middle Pleistocene ‘Devil’s Trails’ ichnosite in the “Foresta” area (Roccamonfina volcano, southern Italy), depicting human trackmakers trampling a pyroclastic flow deposit while descending a slope about 349 ka. Most of the record is Holocene in age and is constituted by the Upper Palaeolithic Grotta della Bàsura site (Toirano, northern Italy, about 14 ky), the protohistoric sites of Afragola, Nola and Palma, the area of Pompei and the site of Aosta. The record is enriched by the ichnological evidences preserved in military structures of Trentino region (northern Italy) during the First World War. An updated report and discussion of these sites is here provided.Fil: Avanzini, Marco. Museo Delle Scienze di Trento; ItaliaFil: Citton, Paolo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Sede Alto Valle. Instituto de Investigaciones en Paleobiología y Geología; ArgentinaFil: Mietto, Paolo. Università di Padova; ItaliaFil: Panarello, Adolfo. Università di Cassino e del Lazio Meridionale; ItaliaFil: Raia, Pasquale. Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II; ItaliaFil: Romano, Marco. Università di Roma; ItaliaFil: Salvador, Isabella. Museo Delle Scienze di Trento; Itali

Vertebrate tracks of the Río Negro province, Patagonia, Argentina: stratigraphy, palaeobiology and environmental contexts

Fil: de Valais, Silvina. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología. Río Negro, Argentina.Fil: Díaz Martínez, Ignacio. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología. Río Negro, ArgentinaFil: Citton, Paolo. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología. Río Negro, ArgentinaFil: Cónsole Gonella,Carlos. CONICET. INSUGEO – Instituto Superior de Correlación Geológica (Universidad Nacional de Tucumán-CONICET); Argentina.To date, the tetrapod ichnological record in the Río Negro province, Argentina, is known from six areas from the Permo-Triassicto Neogene. Tetrapod tracks have been identified in different palaeoenvironments and geodinamic contexts. The oldest track record is represented by the therapsid tracks from the Los Menucos Group. A prevailing Dicynodontipus and Dicynodontipus-like footprints, Lopingian-Early Triassic in age, comes from the Tscherig and Puesto Vera localities, while Pentasauropus tracks, presumably Late Triassic in age,were recognized in the Yancaqueo locality. A tridactyl track-bearing level, still unpublished (related to El Refugio Formation, Middle-Upper Triassic), has been found in the Puesto Prado farm, in the Arroyo de la Ventana area. Some tracks classified as cf. Anomoepus and undetermined tridactyl tracks have been identified in the Perdomo farm(Marifil Volcanic Complex). The Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) record is represented by the ornithopod, sauropod and theropod tracks from the Candeleros Formation (Ezequiel Ramos Mexía area). Moreover, cf. Iguanodontipodidae, sauropod and avian tracks from the Anacleto and Allen Formations characterise the latest Cretaceous (Campanian-early Maastrichtian) of the Paso Córdoba area.Avian tracks were also reportedfromthe Ingeniero Jacobacci area, from the Angostura Colorada Formation (upper Campanian-lower Maastrichtian), andfrom the Río Negro Formation (upper Miocene-lower Pliocene) along the shoreline of the province. In this area, tens of tracksites and several ichnotaxa have been studied. In regard of palaeoenvironments, ichnosites are constrained to three main sedimentary settings: fluviovolcaniclastic, fluvial/fluvial-aeolian and shallow marine systems. Finally, a brief discussion about palaeobiology and heritage issues is provided.

Half a century after the first bootprint on the lunar surface: the ichnological side of the Moon

Humankind began with extra-planetary expeditions in the 1960s. To date, more than fifty manned and unmanned lunar missions have taken place. Maybe, the most iconic image of these campaigns is the bootprint left and photographed by the astronaut Edwin Aldrin. Nevertheless, there is also other evidence of human activities on the Moon, such as rover trails, drill holes, vehicles, and rubbish. For some researchers, ichnology only studies the traces made by one or several individuals with their own bodies, but other authors advocate that artefacts as well as traces made by these artefacts are also traces. In this context, the ichnology of the Moon allows both analysis of the traces left on the lunar surface themselves and discussion of the aim and scopes of ichnology. The Moon ichnology, which arises from the development of hominid ichnology, includes technical artefacts (called technofossils, e.g. Lunar Module, flag, religious text) and traces of technical artefacts (comprised in the new category technotraces, e.g. bootprints, drill holes) but not traces made by individuals with parts of their bodies. Although the lunar environment is very different from that of the Earth due to the absence of atmosphere, magnetic field, water, organic material and life, it is possible to propose three ichnological analogies between the Earth and its satellite. First of all, traces on the Moon surface are subjected to very slow sedimentation rates, similar to what occurs in abyssal bottoms or caves, among other environments. Moreover, physical and mechanical properties allow comparison with processes leading to the formation of traces in volcanic ash deposits with those acting on the soil and regolith of the Moon. Finally, cultural similarities have been identified between the traces left by humans on the Moon and comparable expeditions of humankind, such as Antarctica and the North Pole. The evolution of human technical artefacts has been used to help characterise the onset of the “Anthropocene”. These artefacts can be included within the technosphere and can also be thought to be phenotypic expressions of human genes. Therefore, the traces left on the Moon as well as others which are in other celestial bodies or even in the space, can be considered evidence of extended phenotype of Homo sapiens and the “Anthropocene” beyond the Earth.Fil: Díaz Martínez, Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Sede Alto Valle. Instituto de Investigaciones en Paleobiología y Geología; ArgentinaFil: Cónsole Gonella, Carlos Alfredo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Correlación Geológica. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo. Departamento de Geología. Cátedra Geología Estructural. Instituto Superior de Correlación Geológica; ArgentinaFil: Citton, Paolo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Sede Alto Valle. Instituto de Investigaciones en Paleobiología y Geología; ArgentinaFil: de Valais, Silvina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Sede Alto Valle. Instituto de Investigaciones en Paleobiología y Geología; Argentin

Triassic pentadactyl tracks from the Los Menucos Group (Río Negro province, Patagonia Argentina): Possible constraints on the autopodial posture of Gondwanan trackmakers

The Los Menucos locality in Patagonia, Argentina, bears a well-known ichnofauna mostly documented by small therapsid footprints. Within this ichnofauna, large pentadactyl footprints are also represented but to date were relatively underinvestigated. These footprints are here analyzed and discussed based on palaeobiological indications (i.e., trackmaker identification). High resolution digital photogrammetry method was performed to achieve a more objective representation of footprint three-dimensional morphologies. The footprints under study are compared with Pentasauropus from the Upper Triassic lower Elliot Formation (Stormberg Group) of the Karoo Basin (Lesotho, southern Africa). Some track features suggest a therapsid-grade synapsid as the potential trackmaker, to be sought among anomodont dicynodonts (probably Kannemeyeriiformes). While the interpretation of limb posture in the producer of Pentasauropus tracks from the Los Menucos locality agrees with those described from the dicynodont body fossil record, the autopodial posture does not completely agree. The relative distance between the impression of the digital (ungual) bases and the distal edge of the pad trace characterizing the studied tracks likely indicates a subunguligrade foot posture (i.e., standing on the last and penultimate phalanges) in static stance, but plantiportal (i.e., the whole foot skeleton and related soft tissues are weightbearing) during the dynamics of locomotion. The reconstructed posture might have implied an arched configuration of the articulated metapodials and at least of the proximal phalanges, as well as little movement capabilities of the metapodials. Usually, a subunguligrade-plantiportal autopod has been described for gigantic animals (over six hundreds kilograms of body weight) to obtain an efficient management of body weight. Nevertheless, this kind of autopod is described here for large but not gigantic animals, as the putative trackmakers of Pentasauropus were. This attribution implies that such an autopodial structure was promoted independently from the body size in the putative trackmakers. From an evolutionary point of view, subunguligradeplantiportal autopods not necessarily must be related with an increase in body size, but rather the increase in body size requires a subunguligrade or unguligrade, plantiportal foot. Chronostratigraphically, Pentasauropus was reported from Upper Triassic deposits of South Africa and United States, and from late Middle Triassic and Upper Triassic deposits of Argentina. Based on the stratigraphic distribution of the ichnogenus currently accepted, a Late Triassic age is here proposed for the Pentasauropus-bearing levels of the Los Menucos Group.Fil: Citton, Paolo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología; ArgentinaFil: Díaz Martínez, Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología; ArgentinaFil: de Valais, Silvina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología; ArgentinaFil: Cónsole Gonella, Carlos Alfredo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Correlación Geológica. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo. Departamento de Geología. Cátedra Geología Estructural. Instituto Superior de Correlación Geológica; Argentin