1. New Hettangian tracks from the Causses Basin (Lozère, southern France) complement the poor fossil record of earliest Jurassic crocodylomorphs in Europe
- Author
-
Jean-David Moreau, Didier Néraudeau, Georges Gand, Emmanuel Fara, Géosciences Rennes (GR), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Rennes (OSUR)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 1 (UR1), Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES), Biogéosciences [UMR 6282] [Dijon] (BGS), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Bourgogne (UB)-AgroSup Dijon - Institut National Supérieur des Sciences Agronomiques, de l'Alimentation et de l'Environnement, Géosciences Rennes ( GR ), Université de Rennes 1 ( UR1 ), Université de Rennes ( UNIV-RENNES ) -Université de Rennes ( UNIV-RENNES ) -Institut national des sciences de l'Univers ( INSU - CNRS ) -Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Rennes ( OSUR ) -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ( CNRS ), Biogéosciences [Dijon] ( BGS ), Université de Bourgogne ( UB ) -AgroSup Dijon - Institut National Supérieur des Sciences Agronomiques, de l'Alimentation et de l'Environnement-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ( CNRS ), Université de Rennes (UR)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Rennes (OSUR), Université de Rennes (UR)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Biogéosciences [UMR 6282] (BGS), Université de Bourgogne (UB)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université de Rennes 1 (UR1), and Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Rennes (OSUR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,Hettangian ,010506 paleontology ,Fossil Record ,southern France ,Crocodylomorph tracks ,Structural basin ,[ SDU.STU.ST ] Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Stratigraphy ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,Complement (complexity) ,Paleontology ,Lower Jurassic ,dinosaur tracks ,[SDU.STU.ST]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Stratigraphy ,Assemblage (archaeology) ,14. Life underwater ,General Agricultural and Biological Sciences ,[SDU.STU.PG]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Paleontology ,Causses Basin ,Geology ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,[ SDU.STU.PG ] Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Paleontology - Abstract
International audience; A new vertebrate ichnological assemblage is described from the Hettangian Dolomitic Formation of the Causses Basin, at Le Serre (Lozère, southern France). We report tracks that complement the poor fossil record of lowermost Jurassic crocodylomorphs in Europe. Tetradactyl pes and pentadactyl manus imprints form a unique trackway. Traces are ascribed to Batrachopus isp. and they represent the third occurrence of this ichnogenus in European Hettangian geological formations. This is the first report of Batrachopus in Hettangian deposits of the Causses Basin. The tracks share some similarities with Batrachopus deweyi previously described from the Sinemurian of the Causses Basin. Crocodylomorph tracks co-occur with tridactyl dinosaur traces assigned to Dilophosauripus williamsi and Grallator isp. The sedimentology and palaeoichnology of the tracksite indicate that the depositional environment was a tidal to supratidal flat marsh that was emerged periodically. The ichnological assemblage from Le Serre and a synthesis of ichnotaxa co-occurring with Batrachopus in the European lowermost Jurassic tracksites confirm that crocodylomorphs living in marginal-littoral palaeoenvironments were part of theropod-dominated faunas, together with ornithopods but apparently without sauropods.
- Published
- 2019