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Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 2006; v. 265; p. 137-156;
DOI: 10.1144/GSL.SP.2006.265.01.06
© 2006 Geological Society of London

Permian tetrapod ichnofacies

Adrian P. Hunt & Spencer G. Lucas

New Mexico Museum of Natural History, 1801 Mountain Road NW, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87104-1375, USA adrian.hunt{at}state.nm.us

Three fundamental terms in ichnology are:

(1) assemblage, which is equivalent to an assemblage of body fossils;
(2) ichnocoenosis, which is a trace fossil assemblage produced by a biological community that can be characterized by morphological criteria;
(3) ichnofacies, which refers to recurrent ichnocoenoses that represent a significant portion of Phanerozoic time.

There are five archetypal vertebrate ichnofacies for non-marine environments (Chelichnus, Grallator, Carichnium, Batrachichnus, Characichichnos) of which four are present in the Permian:

(1) Chelichnus ichnofacies — Chelichnus ichnocoenosis;
(2) Batrachichnus ichnofacies — Batrachichnus ichnocoenosis;
(3) Brontopodus ichnofacies — Pachypes ichnocoenosis;
(4) Characichichnos ichnofacies — Serpentichnus ichnocoenosis. The Chelichnus and Characichichnos ichnofacies occur throughout the Permian, the Batrachichnus ichnofacies is restricted to the Early Permian and the Brontopodus to the Middle to Late Permian. The Batrachichnus ichnocoenosis can be divided into the Ichniotherium sub-ichnocoenosis, Amphisauropus sub-ichnocoenosis and the Dimetropus subichnocoenosis, which represent a spectrum of non-marine environments from alluvial fan to tidal flat.