A Batrachichnus salamandroides trackway from the Minto Formation of central New Brunswick, Canada: implications for alternative trackmaker interpretations

Authors

  • Luke F. Allen Citadel High School, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 0A4, Canada
  • Matthew R. Stimson Steinhammer Paleontological Laboratories, Geology/Paleontology section, Natural History Department, New Brunswick Museum, Saint John New Brunswick E2K 1E5, Canada
  • Olivia A. King Steinhammer Paleontological Laboratories, Geology/Paleontology section, Natural History Department, New Brunswick Museum, Saint John New Brunswick E2K 1E5, Canada
  • Rowan E. Norrad Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia B4P 2R6, Canada
  • Spencer G. Lucas New Mexico Museum of Natural History, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87104, USA
  • Arjan Mann Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Department of Paleobiology, Washington DC, 20560, USA
  • Steven J. Hinds New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development, Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 5H1, Canada
  • Adrian F. Park New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development, Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 5H1, Canada
  • John H. Calder Department of Geology, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax Nova Scotia B3H 3C3, Canada
  • Hillary Maddin Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6, Canada
  • Martin Montplaisir Visual Q Technologies, Moncton, New Brunswick E1E 2K2, Canada

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4138/atlgeo.2022.010

Abstract

A new specimen of Batrachichnus salamandroides was recovered from a recently discovered fossil-bearing
site situated along the southern shore of Grand Lake, New Brunswick, among a diverse ichnofaunal assemblage
from the Middle Pennsylvanian (upper Bolsovian; lower Moscovian), upper Minto Formation. The identity of
the tracemaker of this ichnogenus is reinterpreted as a composite of various late Paleozoic tetrapod taxa, based
on similarities of the postcranial skeletons, notably that of the manus and pes, of both temnospondyls and some
“microsaurs”. These results indicate that the tracemaker of the monospecific ichnogenus Batrachnichus is not
limited solely to a temnospondyl tracemaker, as previously interpreted, and that some “microsaurs” should also
be considered among tracemaker candidates for this ichnotaxon.

References

Anderson J.S. 2007. Incorporating ontogeny into the matrix: a phylogenetic evaluation of developmental evidence for the origin of modern amphibians. In Major transitions in vertebrate evolution. Edited by J.S. Anderson and H.-D. Sues. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, pp. 182–227.

Baird, D. 1952. Revision of the Pennsylvanian and Permian footprints Limnopus, Allopus and Baropus. Journal of Paleontology, 26, pp. 832–840.

Baird, D. 1965. Paleozoic lepospondyl amphibians. American Zoologist, 5, pp. 287–294. https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/5.2.287

Ball, F.D., Sullivan, R.M., and Peach, A.R. 1981. Carboniferous drilling project. New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources; Mineral Resources Branch, Report of Investigation 18, 109 pp.

Bell, W.A. 1944. Carboniferous rocks and fossil floras of northern Nova Scotia, Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 238, 277 pp. https://doi.org/10.4095/119859

Bell, W.A. 1962. Flora of the Pennsylvanian Pictou Group of New Brunswick, Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 87, 71 pp. https://doi.org/10.4095/100605

Béthoux, O., Norrad, R.E., Stimson, M.R., King, O.A., Allen, L.F., Deregnaucourt, I., Hinds, S.J., Lewis, J.H., and Schneider, J.W. 2021. A unique, large-sized stem-Odonata (Insecta) found in the early Pennsylvanian of New Brunswick (Canada). Fossil Record, 24, pp. 207–221. https://doi.org/10.5194/fr-24-207-2021

Bolt, J. R. 1979. Amphibamus grandiceps as a juvenile dissorophid: evidence and implications. In Mazon Creek Fossils. Edited by M. H. Nitecki. Academic Press, New York, pp. 529–563. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-519650-5.50025-4

Brand, L.R. and Kramer J. 1996. Underprints of vertebrate and invertebrate trackways in the Permian Coconino Sandstone in Arizona. Ichnos, 4, pp. 225–230. https://doi.org/10.1080/10420949609380129

Calder, J.H. 1998. The Carboniferous evolution of Nova Scotia. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 143, pp. 261–302. https://doi.org/10.1144/GSL.SP.1998.143.01.19

Calder, J.H., Gibling, M.R., Scott, A.C., Davies, S.J., and Hebert, B.L. 2006. A fossil lycopsid forest succession in the classic Joggins section of Nova Scotia: paleoecology of a disturbance-prone Pennsylvanian wetland. In Wetlands through time. Edited by S.F. Greb and W.A. DiMichele. Geological Society of America Special Paper 399, pp. 169–195. https://doi.org/10.1130/2006.2399(09)

Carroll, R.L. 1964. The earliest reptiles. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 45, pp.61–83. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1964.tb00488.x

Carroll, R.L. 1966. Microsaurs from the Westphalian B of Joggins, Nova Scotia. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 177, pp. 63–97. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.1966.tb00952.x

Carroll, R.L. 1967. Labrynthodonts from the Joggins Formation. Journal of Paleontology, 4, pp. 111–142.

Carroll, R.L. 1968. The postcranial skeleton of the Permian microsaur Pantylus. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 46, pp. 1175–1192. https://doi.org/10.1139/z68-168

Carroll, R.L. 1969. A Middle Pennsylvanian captorhinomorph, and the interrelationships of primitive reptiles. Journal of Paleontology, 43, pp. 151–170.

Carroll, R.L. 1991. Batropetes from the Lower Permian of Europe — a microsaur, not a reptile. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 11, pp. 229–242. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1991.10011390

Carroll, R. L. 1998. Order Microsauria. In Encyclopedia of paleoherpetology, Part 1, Lepospondyli. Edited by P. Wellnhofer. Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, Munich, Germany, pp. 133–148.

Carroll, R.L. and Chorn, J. 1995. Vertebral development in the oldest microsaur and the problem of “lepospondyl” relationships. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 15, pp. 37–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1995.10011206

Carroll R.L. and Gaskill P. 1978. The order Microsauria. Memoir of the American Philosophical Society, 126, 211 pp.

Carroll, R.L., Bybee, P. and Tidwell, W.D. 1991. The oldest microsaur (Amphibia). Journal of Paleontology, 65, pp. 314–322. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022336000020552

Cisneros, J.C., Day, M.O., Groenewald, J., and Rubidge, B.S. 2020. Small footprints expand middle Permian amphibian diversity in the South African Karoo. Palaios, 35, pp. 1–11. https://doi.org/10.2110/palo.2018.098

Clack, J.A. 2011. A new microsaur from the Early Carboniferous (Visean) of East Kirkton, Scotland, showing soft tissue evidence. Studies on Fossil Tetrapods, 86, pp. 45–55.

Clack, J.A. and Milner, A.R. 2009. Morphology and systematics of the Pennsylvanian amphibian Platyrhinops lyelli (Amphibia: Temnospondyli). Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 100, pp. 275–295. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755691010009023

Clack, J.A., Ruta, M., Milner, A.R., Marshall, J.E., Smithson, T.R., and Smithson, K.Z. 2019. Acherontiscus caledoniae: the earliest heterodont and durophagous tetrapod. Royal Society open science, 6, 182087. 6 pp. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.182087

Cotton, W., Hunt, A.P., and Cotton, J. 1995. Paleozoic vertebrate tracksites in eastern North America. In Early Permian footprints and facies. Edited by S.G Lucas and A.B.Heckett, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 6, pp. 189–217.

Daly, E. 1973. A Lower Permian vertebrate fauna from southern Oklahoma. Journal of Paleontology, 43, pp. 562–589.

Davies, S., Gibling, M., Rygel, M., Calder, J., and Skilliter, D. 2005. The Pennsylvanian Joggins Formation of Nova Scotia: sedimentological log and stratigraphic framework of the historic fossil cliffs. Atlantic Geology, 41, pp. 87–102. https://doi.org/10.4138/182

Dawson, J.W. 1863. Air-breathers of the Coal Period: a descriptive account of the remains of land animals found in the Coal Formation of Nova Scotia, with remarks on their bearing on theories of the formation of coal and of the origin of species. Dawson Brothers, Montréal, 81.pp. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.167425

Dawson, J.W. 1882. On the results of recent explorations of erect trees containing reptilian remains in the Coal Formation of Nova Scotia. Proceedings of the Royal Society, 33, pp. 254–256.

Dawson, J.W. 1894. Preliminary note on recent discoveries of batrachians and other air-breathers in the Coal Formation of Nova Scotia. Canadian Record of Science. 6, pp. 1–7.

Dawson, J. W. 1895. Synopsis of the air-breathing animals of the Paleozoic in Canada up to 1894. Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 12, pp. 71–88.

Dawson, J.W. 1896. Additional report on erect trees containing animal remains in the Coal Formation of Nova Scotia. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. 59, pp. 362–366. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspl.1895.0107

Dietrich, J., Lavoie, D., Hannigan, P., Pinet, N., Castonguay, S., Giles, P., and Hamblin, A. 2011. Geological setting and resource potential of conventional petroleum plays in Paleozoic basins in eastern Canada. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, 59, pp. 54–84. https://doi.org/10.2113/gscpgbull.59.1.54

Dunne, E.M., Close, R.A., Button, D.J., Brocklehurst, N., Cashmore, D.D., Lloyd, G.T., and Butler, R.J. 2018. Diversity change during the rise of tetrapods and the impact of the ‘Carboniferous rainforest collapse’. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 285, 8 pp. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.2730

Dyer, W.S. 1926. Minto Coal Basin, New Brunswick. Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 151, 40 pp., 2 map sheets, scale 1:63 360.

Falcon-Lang, H.J. and Miller, R.F. 2007. Palaeoenvironments and palaeoecology of the Early Pennsylvanian Lancaster Formation (‘Fern Ledges’) of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. Journal of the Geological Society, 164, pp. 945–957. https://doi.org/10.1144/0016-76492006-189

Falcon-Lang, H.J., Benton, M.J., and Stimson, M. 2007. Ecology of earliest reptiles inferred from basal Pennsylvanian trackways. Journal of the Geological Society, 164, pp. 1113–1118. https://doi.org/10.1144/0016-76492007-015

Falcon-Lang, H.J., Gibling, M.R., Benton, M.J., Miller, R.F., and Bashforth, A.R. 2010. Diverse tetrapod trackways in the Lower Pennsylvanian Tynemouth Creek Formation, near St. Martins, southern New Brunswick, Canada. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 296, pp. 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.06.020

Fichter, J. 1979. Aktuopaläontologische Studien zur Lokomotion rezenter Urodelen und Lacertilier sowie paläontologische Untersuchungen an Tetrapodenfährten des Rotliegenden (Unter-Perm) SW-Deutschlands. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Johannes Gutenberg Universität, Mainz, 425 pp.

Geinitz, H.B. 1861. Dyas oder die Zechsteinformation und das Rhotliegende. Heft I Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig.130 pp., 23 plates. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.44568

Gibling, M.R., Culshaw, N., Pascucci, V., Waldron J.W.F., and Rygel, M.C. 2019. Chapter 6: The Maritimes Basin of Atlantic Canada: basin creation and destruction during the Paleozoic assembly of Pangea. In The sedimentary basins of the United States and Canada (second edition), Elsevier, pp. 267–314. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-63895-3.00006-1

Grabau, A.W. and Shimer, H.W. 1910. North American index fossils, 2, pp. 818–819.

Hacquebard, P.A. 1972. The Carboniferous of eastern Canada. Compte Rendu: 7th International Congress of Carboniferous Stratigraphy and Geology, Krefeld 1971, 1, pp. 69–90. https://doi.org/10.4095/130351

Hacquebard, P.A. and Barss, M.S. 1970. Paleogeography and facies aspects of the Minto coal seam, New Brunswick, Canada. Compte Rendu: 6th International Congress on Carboniferous Stratigraphy and Geology, Sheffield 1967, pp. 861–872.

Hamilton, J.B. 1960. Geological Notes ― Chipman-Harcourt Area, New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources and Energy Preliminary Map 60-01, 8 pp., 1 sheet, scale 1:63 360.

Hamilton, J.B. 1962a. Geological Notes ― Codys, Queens and Kings Counties, New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources and Energy Preliminary Map 59-05, 21 pp., 1 sheet, scale 1:63 360.

Hamilton, J.B. 1962b. Geological Notes ― Salisbury [West], Queens, Kings and Westmorland Counties, New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources and Energy Preliminary Map 60-05, 16 pp., 1 sheet, scale 1:63 360.

Hamilton, J.B. 1962c. Geological Notes ― Chipman [East], Queens County, New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources and Energy Preliminary Map 60-06, 16 pp., 1 sheet, scale 1:63 360.

Haubold, H. 1971. Ichnia amphibiorum et reptiliorum fossilium. Handbuch der Paläoherpetologie, 18, pp. 1–124.

Haubold, H. 1996. Ichnotaxonomie und Klassifikation von Tetrapodenfahrten aus dem Perm. Hallesches Jahrbuch fur Geowissenschaften, B18, pp. 23–88.

Haubold, H. 2000. Tetrapodenfährten aus dem Perm ― Kenntnisstand und Progress 2000. Hallesches Jahrbuch für Geowissenschaften, B22, pp. 1–16.

Haubold, H., Hunt, A.P, Lucas, S.G., and Lockley, M.G. 1995. Wolfcampian (Early Permian) vertebrate tracks from Arizona and New Mexico. In Early Permian footprints and facies. Edited by S.G, Lucas and A.B. Heckert. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 6, pp. 135–165.

Haubold, H., Allen, A., Atkinson, T.P., Buta, R., Lacefield, J., Minkin S.C., and Relihan, B.A. 2005. Interpretation of the tetrapod footprints from the Early Pennsylvanian of Alabama. In Pennsylvanian footprints in the Black warrior basin of Alabama. Edited by R.J. Buta, A.K. Kindsberg, and D.C. Kopaska-Merkel. Alabama Paleontological Society Monograph, 1, pp. 75–111.

Holmes R., Godfrey S., and Baird D. 1995. Tetrapod remains from the late Mississippian Pomquet Formation near Grand Étang, Nova Scotia. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 32, pp. 913–921. https://doi.org/10.1139/e95-076

Holmes, R.B., Carroll, R.L., and Reisz, R.R. 1998. The first articulated skeleton of Dendrerpeton acadianum (Temnospondyli, Dendrerpetontidae) from the Lower Pennsylvanian locality of Joggins Nova Scotia and a review of its relationships. Journal of Paleontology, 18, pp. 64–79. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1998.10011034

Hook, R.W. and Baird D. 1986. The Diamond Coal Mine of Linton, Ohio, and its Pennsylvanian-age vertebrates. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 6, pp. 174–190. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1986.10011609

Hook, R.W. and Baird, D. 1988. An overview of the Upper Carboniferous fossil deposit at Linton, Ohio. Ohio Journal of Science, 88, pp. 55–60.

Hook, R.W. and Ferm, J.C. 1985. A depositional model for the Linton tetrapod assemblage (Westphalian D, Upper Carboniferous) and its palaeoenvironmental significance. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B, 311, pp. 101–109. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1985.0142

Hook, R.W. and Ferm, J.C. 1988. Paleoenvironmental controls on vertebrate-bearing abandoned channels in the Upper Carboniferous. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 63, pp. 159–181. https://doi.org/10.1016/0031-0182(88)90095-8

Huttenlocker, A.K., Pardo, J.D., Small, B.J., and Anderson, J.S. 2013. Cranial morphology of recumbirostrans (Lepospondyli) from the Permian of Kansas and Nebraska, and early morphological evolution inferred by micro-computed tomography. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 33, pp. 540–552. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2013.728998

Jutras, P., MacRae, R.A., and Utting, J. 2007. Visean tectonostratigraphy and basin architecture beneath the Pennsylvanian New Brunswick Platform of eastern Canada. Canadian Petroleum Geology Bulletin, 55, pp. 217–236. https://doi.org/10.2113/gscpgbull.55.3.217

Kalkreuth W., Marchioni D., and Utting J. 2000. Petrology, palynology, coal facies, and depositional environments of an Upper Carboniferous coal seam, Minto Coalfield, New Brunswick, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 37, pp. 1209–1228. https://doi.org/10.1139/e00-039

Keough, B.M., King, O.A., Stimson, M.R., Quinton, P.C., and Rygel, M.C. 2020. Sequence stratigraphy of the late Carboniferous Clifton Formation, New Brunswick. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 57, pp. 1289–304. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2019-0223

Klembara J. 1985. A new embolomerous amphibian (Anthracosauria) from the Upper Carboniferous of Florence, Nova Scotia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 5, pp. 293–302. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1985.10011867

Kohl, M.S. and Bryan, J.R. 1994. A new middle Pennsylvanian (Westphalian) amphibian trackway from the Cross Mountain Formation, east Tennessee Cumberlands. Journal of Paleontology, 68, pp. 655–663. https://doi.org/10.1017/S002233600002597X

Lavoie, D., Pinet, N., Dietrich, J., Hannigan, P., Castonguay, S., Hamblin, A.P., and Giles, P. 2009. Petroleum resources assessment, Paleozoic successions of the St. Lawrence Platform and Appalachians of eastern Canada. Geological Survey of Canada Open File 6174, 273 pp. https://doi.org/10.4095/248071

Leonardi, G. 1987. Glossary and manual of tetrapod footprint palaeoichnology. Departamento Nacional da Produçao Mineral, 75 pp., 19 plates.

Lombard, R.E. and Bolt, J.R. 1999. A microsaur from the Mississippian of Illinois and a standard format for morphological characters. Journal of Paleontology, 73, pp. 908–923. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022336000040749

Lucas, S.G., Hunt, A.P., Calder, J.H., Reid, D.R., Hebert, B.L., and Stimson, M.R. 2005. Tetrapod footprints from Joggins Nova Scotia: a template for understanding Carboniferous tetrapod footprints. Geological Association of Canada Annual Meeting, Halifax, Abstracts, 30, pp. 116–117.

Lucas, S.G., Stimson, M.R., King, O.A., Calder, J.H., Mansky, C.F., Hebert, B.L., and Hunt, A.P. 2022. Carboniferous tetrapod footprint biostratigraphy, biochronology and evolutionary events. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 512, pp. 933–963. https://doi.org/10.1144/SP512-2020-235

Lyell C. and Dawson J.W. 1853. On the remains of a reptile (Dendrerpeton acadianum, Wyman and Owen) and of a land shell discovered in the interior of an erect fossil tree in the Coal Measures of Nova Scotia. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 9, pp. 58–63. https://doi.org/10.1144/GSL.JGS.1853.009.01-02.20

Maddin, H.C., Olori, J.C., and Anderson, J.S. 2011. A redescription of Carrolla craddocki (Lepospondyli: Brachystelechidae) based on high‐resolution CT, and the impacts of miniaturization and fossoriality on morphology. Journal of Morphology, 272, pp. 722–743. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmor.10946

Mann, A. and Gee, B.M. 2019. Lissamphibian-like toepads in an exceptionally preserved amphibamiform from Mazon Creek. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 39. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2019.1727490

Mann, A. and Maddin, H.C. 2019. Diabloroter bolti, a short-bodied recumbirostran ‘microsaur’from the Francis Creek Shale, Mazon Creek, Illinois. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 187, pp. 494–505. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz025

Mann, A. and Paterson, R.S. 2020. Cranial osteology and systematics of the enigmatic early ‘sail-backed’ synapsid Echinerpeton intermedium Reisz, 1972, and a review of the earliest ‘pelycosaurs’. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 18, pp. 529–539. https://doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2019.1648323

Mann, A. and Reisz, R.R. 2020. Antiquity of “sail-backed” neural spine hyper-elongation in mammal forerunners. Frontiers in Earth Science, 8, p. 83. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2020.00083

Mann, A., Pardo, J.D., and Maddin, H.C. 2019. Infernovenator steenae, a new serpentine recumbirostran from the ‘Mazon Creek’ Lagerstätte further clarifies lysorophian origins. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 187, pp. 506–517. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz026

Mann, A., Gee, B.M., Pardo, J.D., Marjanović, D., Adams, G.R., Calthorpe, A.S., Maddin, H.C., and Anderson, J.S. 2020. Reassessment of historic ‘microsaurs’ from Joggins, Nova Scotia, reveals hidden diversity in the earliest amniote ecosystem. Papers in Palaeontology. 6, pp. 605–625. https://doi.org/10.1002/spp2.1316

Mann, A., Calthorpe, A.S., and Maddin, H.C. 2021. Joermungandr bolti, an exceptionally preserved ‘microsaur’ from the Mazon Creek Lagerstätte reveals patterns of integumentary evolution in Recumbirostra. Royal Society Open Science, 8. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.210319

Mansky, C.F. and Lucas, S.G. 2013. Romer’s Gap revisited: continental assemblages and ichno-assemblages from the basal Carboniferous of Blue Beach, Nova Scotia, Canada. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 60, pp. 244–273.

Marchetti, L., Belvedere, M., Voigt, S., Klein, H., Castanera, D., Díaz-Martínez, I., Marty, D., Xing L., Feola, S., Melchor, R.N., and Farlow, J.O. 2019. Defining the morphological quality of fossil footprints. Problems and principles of preservation in tetrapod ichnology with examples from the Palaeozoic to the present. Earth-Science Reviews, 193, pp. 109–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.04.008

Marchetti, L., Voigt, S., Lucas, S.G., Stimson, M.R., King, O.A., and Calder J.H. 2020. Footprints of the earliest reptiles: Notalacerta missouriensis ― ichnotaxonomy, potential trackmakers, biostratigraphy, palaeobiogeography and palaeoecology. Annales Societatis Geologorum Poloniae, 90, pp. 271–290. https://doi.org/10.14241/asgp.2020.13

Matthew, G.F. 1903. On batrachian and other footprints from the Coal Measures of Joggins, NS. Natural History Society of New Brunswick Bulletin, 21, pp. 103–108.

Matthew, G. F. 1904. New species and a new genus of batrachian footprints of the Carboniferous System in eastern Canada. Transaction of the Royal Society of Canada, 4, pp. 77–121.

Matthew, G.F. 1910. Remarkable forms of the Little River Group. Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 3, pp. 115–133.

Melchor, R.N. and Sarjeant, W.A.S, 2004. Small amphibian and reptile footprints from the Permian Carapacha Basin, Argentina. Ichnos, 11, pp. 57–78. https://doi.org/10.1080/10420940490428814

Milàn, J.E. and Bromley, R.G. 2006. True tracks, undertracks and eroded tracks, experimental work with tetrapod tracks in laboratory and field. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 231, pp. 253–264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2004.12.022

Milàn, J. and Bromley, R.G. 2007. The impact of sediment consistency on track and undertrack morphology: experiments with emu tracks in layered cement. Ichnos, 15, pp. 19–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/10420940600864712

Miller, R.F. and Forbes, W.H. 2001. An Upper Carboniferous trigonotarbid, Aphantomartus pustulatus (Scudder, 1884), from the Maritimes Basin (Euramerican Coal Province), New Brunswick, Canada. Atlantic Geology, 37, pp. 191–196. https://doi.org/10.4138/1979

Minter N.J. and Braddy, S. 2006. The fish and amphibian swimming traces Undichna and Lunichnium with examples from the Lower Permian of New Mexico, USA. Palaeontology, 49, pp. 1123–1142. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4983.2006.00588.x

Muller, J.E. 1951. Geology and coal deposits of the Minto and Chipman map-areas, New Brunswick. Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 260, 47 pp., 3 map sheets, scale 1:63 360. https://doi.org/10.4095/101597

Ó Gogáin, A., Falcon‐Lang, H.J., Carpenter, D.K., Miller, R.F., Benton, M.J., Pufahl, P.K., Ruta, M., Davies, T.G., Hinds, S.J., and Stimson, M.R. 2016. Fish and tetrapod communities across a marine to brackish salinity gradient in the Pennsylvanian (early Moscovian) Minto Formation of New Brunswick, Canada, and their palaeoecological and palaeogeographical implications. Palaeontology, 59, pp. 689–724. https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12249

Pardo, J.D. and Anderson, J.S. 2016. Cranial morphology of the Carboniferous-Permian tetrapod Brachydectes newberryi (Lepospondyli, Lysorophia): new data from µCT. PLOS One, 11. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0161823

Pardo, J.D. and Mann, A. 2018. A basal aïstopod from the earliest Pennsylvanian of Canada, and the antiquity of the first limbless tetrapod lineage. Royal Society Open Science, 5. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.181056

Pardo, J.D., Szostakiwskyj, M., and Anderson, J.S. 2015. Cranial morphology of the brachystelechid ‘microsaur’ Quasicaecilia texana Carroll provides new insights into the diversity and evolution of braincase morphology in recumbirostran ‘microsaurs’. PLOS One, 10. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0130359

Pardo, J.D., Szostakiwskyj, M., Ahlberg, P.E., and Anderson, J.S. 2017. Hidden morphological diversity among early tetrapods. Nature, 546, pp. 642–645. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22966

Pardo, J.D., Small, B.J., Milner, A.R., and Huttenlocker, A.K. 2019. Carboniferous–Permian climate change constrained early land vertebrate radiations. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 3, pp. 200–206. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0776-z

Peabody, F.E. 1959. Trackways of living and fossil salamanders. University of California Publications in Zoölogy, 63, pp. 1–71. pl. 1–11.

Petti, F.M., Bernardi, M,, Ashley-Ross, M.A., Berra, F., Tessarollo, A., and Avanzini, M. 2014. Transition between terrestrial-submerged walking and swimming revealed by Early Permian amphibian trackways and a new proposal for the nomenclature of compound trace fossils. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 410, pp. 278–289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2014.05.032

Prescott, Z.M., Stimson, M.R., Dafoe, L.T., Gibling, M.R., MacRae, R.A., Calder, J.H., and Hebert, B.L. 2014. Microbial mats and ichnofauna of a fluvial-tidal channel in the Lower Pennsylvanian Joggins Formation, Canada. Palaios, 29, pp. 624–645. https://doi.org/10.2110/palo.2013.073

Rayner, D.H. 1971. Data on the environment and preservation of late Palaeozoic tetrapods. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 38, pp. 437–495. https://doi.org/10.1144/pygs.38.4.437

Reisz, R. 1971. Pelycosaurian reptiles from the middle Pennsylvanian of North America. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 144, pp. 27–61.

Rieppel, O. 1980. The edopoid amphibian Cochleosaurus from the middle Pennsylvanian of Nova Scotia. Palaeontology 23, pp. 143–149.

Romer, A.S. 1950. The nature and relationships of the Paleozoic microsaurs. American Journal of Science, 248, pp. 628–654. https://doi.org/10.2475/ajs.248.9.628

Sahney, S., Benton, M.J., and Falcon-Lang, H.J. 2010. Rainforest collapse triggered Carboniferous tetrapod diversification in Euramerica. Geology, 38, pp. 1079–1082. https://doi.org/10.1130/G31182.1

Sarjeant, W.A.S. and Mossman, D.J. 1978. Vertebrate footprints from the Carboniferous sediments of Nova Scotia: a historical review and description of newly discovered forms. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 23, pp. 279–306. https://doi.org/10.1016/0031-0182(78)90097-4

St. Peter, C.J. 1997a. Revisions to Upper Carboniferous stratigraphy in the Grand Lake area, New Brunswick. Abstracts: 22nd Annual Review of Activities. New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources and Energy, Mineral Resources, Information Circular 97-4, pp. 13–14.

St. Peter, C.J. 1997b. Bedrock geology of Chipman–Canaan River map area (parts of NTS 21 I/04 and 21 H/13), Sunbury, Queens and Kings counties, New Brunswick. New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources and Energy, Mineral Resources, plate 97-34, scale 1:20 000.

St. Peter, C.J. 2000. Carboniferous geology of the southwestern New Brunswick platform (Maugerville Subbasin). New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources and Energy, Mineral Resources, plate 2000-16.

St. Peter, C.J. and Johnson, S.C. 2009. Stratigraphy and structural history of the late Palaeozoic Maritimes Basin in southeastern New Brunswick, Canada. New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources; Minerals, Policy and Planning Division, Memoir 3, 348 pp.

Steen, M.C. 1934. The amphibian fauna from the south Joggins, Nova Scotia. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 104, pp. 465–504. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1934.tb01644.x

Sternberg, C.M. 1933. Carboniferous tracks from Nova Scotia. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 44, pp. 951–964. https://doi.org/10.1130/GSAB-44-951

Stimson, M., Lucas, S.G., and Melanson, G. 2012. The smallest known tetrapod footprints: Batrachichnus salamandroides from the Carboniferous of Joggins, Nova Scotia, Canada. Ichnos, 19, pp. 127–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/10420940.2012.685206

Stimson, M.R., Calder, J.H., and Hebert, B.L. 2015. The top predator of Joggins and its tracker Donald Reid. Atlantic Geoscience Society, Annual Colloquium 2015. (Also published as Atlantic Geology, 51, p. 143).

Stimson, M., Miller, R., and Lucas, S. 2016a. Reassignment of vertebrate ichnotaxa from the Upper Carboniferous ‘Fern Ledges’, Lancaster Formation, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. Atlantic Geology, 52, pp. 20–34. https://doi.org/10.4138/atlgeol.2016.002

Stimson, M., Miller, R., Lucas, S., Park, A., and Hinds, S. 2016b. Redescription of tetrapod trackways from the Mississippian Mabou Group, Lepreau Falls, New Brunswick, Canada. Atlantic Geology, 52, pp. 1–19. https://doi.org/10.4138/atlgeol.2016.001

Stimson, M.R., King, O.A., MacRae, R.A., Miller, R.F., Hinds, S.J., and Park, A.F. 2018. Ichnological, palynological, and biomarker studies on the Devonian–Carboniferous (Mississippian and Pennsylvanian) strata of New Brunswick: implications for continental biodiversity during Romer’s Gap. Energy, Mines, Petroleum Geoscience Project Summaries and Other Activities, pp. 90–102.

Stimson, M.R., King, O. A., Macrae, R.A., Gastaldo, R., Glasspool, I., Gensel. P.G., Basinger, J.F., Miller, R.F., Hinds, S.J, Park, A.F., and Allan, L. 2019. The first evidence of terrestrial vertebrates from the Lower Mississippian Albert Formation of New Brunswick. Implications for the invasion of continental lacustrine ecosystems and biodiversity during Romer’s Gap in Atlantic Canada in the western Moncton Subbasin. Energy, Mines, Petroleum Geoscience Project Summaries and Other Activities, pp. 70–71.

Szostakiwskyj, M., Pardo, J.D., and Anderson, J.S. 2015. Micro-CT study of Rhynchonkos stovalli (Lepospondyli, Recumbirostra), with description of two new genera. PLOS One, 10. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0127307

Teichert, C.A. 1948. Simple device for coating fossils with ammonium chloride. Journal of Paleontology, 22, pp. 102–104.

Tucker, L. and Smith, M. P. 2004. A multivariate taxonomic analysis of the Late Carboniferous vertebrate ichnofauna of Alveley, southern Shropshire, England. Palaeontology, 47, pp. 679–710. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0031-0239.2004.00377.x

Ulrich, E.O. and Bassler, R.S. 1923. Paleozoic Ostracoda: their morphology, classification and occurrence. Maryland Geological Survey, Silurian. pp. 281–283.

van de Poll, H.W., Gibling, M.R., and Hyde, R.S. 1995. Introduction. In Chapter 5. Upper Paleozoic rocks. In Geology of the Appalachian-Caledonian Orogen in Canada and Greenland. Edited by H. Williams; Geological Survey of Canada, Geology of Canada, no. 6, pp. 449-455 (also Geological Society of America, The Geology of North America, v. F-1).

Vaughn, P.P. 1972. More vertebrates, including a new microsaur, from the Upper Pennsylvanian of central Colorado. Natural History Museum, Los Angeles County. pp. 1-29. https://doi.org/10.5962/p.241208

Voigt, S. 2005. Die Tetrapodenichnofauna des kontinentalen Oberkarbon und Perm im Thuringer Wald: Ichnotaxonomie, Paläoökologie und Biostratigraphie. Cuvillier Verlag, Göttingen, 305 pp.

Voigt, S. and Lucas, S.G. 2015. Permian tetrapod ichnodiversity of the Prehistoric Trackways National Monument (south-central New Mexico, USA). New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 65, pp. 153–167.

Williams, E.P. 1974. Geology and petroleum possibilities in and around Gulf of St. Lawrence. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 58, pp. 1137–1155. https://doi.org/10.1306/83D9162D-16C7-11D7-8645000102C1865D

Woodworth, J.B. 1900. Vertebrate footprints on Carboniferous shales of Plainville, Massachusetts. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 11, pp. 449–454. https://doi.org/10.1130/GSAB-11-449

Zittel, K. A. 1888. Palaeozoologie. Vertebrata (Pisces, Amphibia, Reptilia, Aves). ,Handbuch der Palaeontologie,: Abtheilung:1, Band 3; R. Oldenbourg, Munich and Leipzig, 900 pp.

Downloads

Published

2022-10-14

How to Cite

Allen, L. F., Stimson, M. R., King, O. A., Norrad, R. E., Lucas, S. G., Mann, A., … Montplaisir, M. (2022). A Batrachichnus salamandroides trackway from the Minto Formation of central New Brunswick, Canada: implications for alternative trackmaker interpretations. Atlantic Geoscience, 58, 239–260. https://doi.org/10.4138/atlgeo.2022.010

Issue

Section

Articles