Large caviomorph rodent footprints of the Late Oligocene
Vinchina Formation, Argentina

Verónica Krapovickas and Norma L. Nasif

ABSTRACT

Footprints and trackways provide valuable information about trackmaker behaviour, locomotion, spatial and temporal distribution, among others. Here we describe tetradactyl mammalian footprints and trackways recorded in Late Oligocene meandering fluvial deposits of the Vinchina Formation (Oligocene - Early Miocene). The morphological analysis of the footprints suggests that they were produced most likely by dinomyid caviomorph rodents or a close relative. The footprints, unlike any previously recorded, are designated to a new ichnospecies, Tacheria troyana. The occurrence of these footprints potentially extends the temporal record of dinomyids in Argentina to the Late Oligocene.

Verónica Krapovickas. Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellón 2, Buenos Aires, C1428EHA, Argentina. CONICET.
Norma L. Nasif. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo, INSUGEO, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Miguel Lillo 205, 4000 Tucumán, Argentina. 

KEY WORDS: trace fossil; Cenozoic; South America; dinomyid caviomorph rodents; Late Oligocene: La Rioja province

PE Article Number: 14.2.12A
Copyright: Society for Vertebrate Paleontology July 2011
Submission: 6 October 2010. Acceptance: 28 March 2011