부산대학교 도서관

Two new sites with mammalian footprints in the early Oligocene of southeastern France are described here. They represent one of the best preserved and more numerous record of tracks and trackways in the world with more than 320 ichnites. Many of those are arranged in trackways and sometimes show pes-manus impressions, a quite rare feature in mammalian ichnology. The ichnotaxonomic study indicates the presence of perissodactyls tracks referred to as Rhinoceripeda voconcense (Demathieu et al., 1984), artiodactyls footprints referred to as Megapecoripeda velox (Demathieu et al., 1984) and a carnivore footprint referred to as Bestiopeda sp. Vialov (1966). They can be attributed to early Rhinocerotids, Lophiomerycids and/or Entelodonts and Mustelid-like carnivore, respectively. This study also aims at homogenizing the ichnotaxonomy used for mammal tracks where several genera were erected without a full review of the literature. All this taken together reveals a rich mammalian ichnofauna at a time period when no other fossils of mammals are known in the area and represents a good opportunity to provide state-of-the-art concerning the worldwide known sites that yielded mammalian footprints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]