Varanopus aff. microdactylus (Pabst, 1896)
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.13510407 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03F387F5-1627-7C28-FFBE-FBEC88F861DE |
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treatment provided by |
Felipe |
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scientific name |
Varanopus aff. microdactylus (Pabst, 1896) |
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Varanopus aff. microdactylus (Pabst, 1896)
Figs. 23D View Fig , 29A View Fig .
? Eumekichnium gampsodactylum (Pabst, 1896) ; Mietto 1975: figs. 1, 2.? Rhynchosauroides palmatus (Lull, 1942) ; Conti et al. 1977: fig. 17, pl.
5: 1.? Varanopus microdactylus (Pabst, 1896) ; Fichter and Kowalczyk
1983: fig. 21.?Lepidosauria indet. Ceoloni et al. 1987: fig. 10, pl. 4: 4.
Material.—Tumlin Gród quarry: Muz. PIG OS−220/61A: 1–7 fragmentary trackway composed of six consecutive pedal imprints, with only one fragmentary manual imprint ( Figs. 23D View Fig , 29A View Fig ); many other fragmentary imprints occur on this slab, but no trackway can be distinguished; Muz. PIG OS−220/61B other part of the same slab with mass occurrence of mostly poorly preserved, not numbered imprints. Sosnowica Hill quarry: Muz. PIG OS−220/2A; Muz. PIG OS−220/2B; Muz. PIG OS−220/2C plaster casts of parts of the surface with mass occurred imprints.
Description.—Only one known fragmentary trackway Muz. PIG OS−220/61A: 1–7 shows six consecutive pedal imprints associated with poorly visible manual imprints. The oblique pedal pace in this trackway varies from 85 to 105 mm, attaining 93 mm as an average value. The stride is 125–145 mm; pace angulation 95° up to 112°. The width of pace varies from 55 mm up to 72 mm varies because the trackway is not straight, but turning slightly left. Pedal axes are slightly (about +4°) inclined to the midline. The trackway shows the presence of a tail drag mark, 3–4 mm wide and situated somewhat asymmetrically in relation to pedal imprints.
Pes.—Pedal imprints are lacertoid in shape, about 24 mm long and 22 mm wide. All five digits have distinct, narrow claw marks; digits I–IV increase in length from I to IV, exceeding 10, 14, 18, and 20 mm, respectively. The fifth digit is 17 mm long. Digits I–IV diverge at 35°; divarications between digits I–V and II–IV are 65 and 20°, respectively.
Manus.—In the trackway described only one, poorly preserved manus imprint is visible. In other, isolated and incompletely preserved sets, manus imprints are distinguishable from those of pes, being somewhat smaller in size and possibly slightly more inclined to the midline.
Remarks.—Footprints at Sosnowica Hill quarry are abundant, but no trackway has been determined. Imprints from Tumlin Gród and Sosnowica Hill show no differences in shape, digit proportions, size of imprints and angles to Varanopus microdactylus (Pabst, 1896) . The trackway of Varanopus aff. microdactylus (Pabst, 1896) known from Tumlin Gród shows one difference in comparison with type specimens, namely the relatively high stride to pedal length ratio (smaller size of imprints in relation to the trackway patterns) attaining 5–6, as compared to only about 4 in Varanopus microdactylus (see Haubold 1971b). On the other hand, it shows a great degree of similarity to specimens described by Mietto (1975) as Eumekichnium gampsodactylum Pabst , by Ceoloni et al. 1987 as Lepidosauria indet. by Conti et al. (1977) as Rhynchosauroides palmatus , except for the pedal digit V is not visible in that trackway ( Conti et al. 1977: fig. 17, pl. 5: 1), and possibly to one of the specimens of Varanopus microdactylus (Pabst, 1896) described by Fichter and Kowalczyk (1983).
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