Algarpes, new ichnogenus gorgonopsian tracks from Permian of Mallorca (free pdf)
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Ben Creisler
Aug 1, 2025, 1:09:31 AM8/1/25
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Ben Creisler
Rafel Matamales-Andreu, Eudald Mujal, Àngel Galobart & Josep Fortuny (2025)
Track-trackmaker correlation of co-occurring gorgonopsian bones and footprints from the early–?Middle Permian of equatorial Pangaea
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 113174
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113174
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018225004596
Highlights
New therapsid ichnotaxon from the lower–?middle Permian of Mallorca: Algarpes ferus.
Track-trackmaker correlation with the gorgonopsian bones from Mallorca.
Narrow trackway, with long strides and high pace angulation.
Upright posture already acquired by early therapsids.
Abstract
Therapsids are a group of terrestrial tetrapods that gave rise to mammals during the Triassic. The oldest confirmed record of this group dates to the Permian, showing the acquisition of a new suite of morphological traits, drifting away from the ‘reptilian’ body plan. One of these modifications affected the girdle and limb joint anatomy and had a profound impact on posture and, by extension, locomotion. Therefore, trackways can be used as a fairly reliable proxy to track down the mode and tempo of those changes. However, references to tracks (and skeletal remains) attributed to therapsids from deposits encompassing the lower–middle Permian boundary are still scarce in the literature. Here we describe a new ichnotaxon, Algarpes ferus igen. et isp. nov., from the palaeoequatorial lower/?middle Permian of Mallorca (western Mediterranean), correlating it to gorgonopsian trackmakers. This is because the pes tracks match, in terms of proportions and size, with the gorgonopsian body fossils found in the same sedimentological succession, in the Port des Canonge Formation. The narrow gauge and the wide values of pace angulation of the studied trackways suggest a primitive upright posture with a parasagittal mode of locomotion. These results shed light on the palaeoequatorial tetrapod communities and their importance in the diversification of early therapsids, as well as on the evolution of locomotion in this group, showing that modifications that would result in the ‘mammalian’ gait were already underway by the early/?middle Permian.
A new paper:
Free pdf:
Algarpes ferus igen. et isp. nov.
Rafel Matamales-Andreu, Eudald Mujal, Àngel Galobart & Josep Fortuny (2025)
Track-trackmaker correlation of co-occurring gorgonopsian bones and footprints from the early–?Middle Permian of equatorial Pangaea
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 113174
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113174
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018225004596
Highlights
New therapsid ichnotaxon from the lower–?middle Permian of Mallorca: Algarpes ferus.
Track-trackmaker correlation with the gorgonopsian bones from Mallorca.
Narrow trackway, with long strides and high pace angulation.
Upright posture already acquired by early therapsids.
Abstract
Therapsids are a group of terrestrial tetrapods that gave rise to mammals during the Triassic. The oldest confirmed record of this group dates to the Permian, showing the acquisition of a new suite of morphological traits, drifting away from the ‘reptilian’ body plan. One of these modifications affected the girdle and limb joint anatomy and had a profound impact on posture and, by extension, locomotion. Therefore, trackways can be used as a fairly reliable proxy to track down the mode and tempo of those changes. However, references to tracks (and skeletal remains) attributed to therapsids from deposits encompassing the lower–middle Permian boundary are still scarce in the literature. Here we describe a new ichnotaxon, Algarpes ferus igen. et isp. nov., from the palaeoequatorial lower/?middle Permian of Mallorca (western Mediterranean), correlating it to gorgonopsian trackmakers. This is because the pes tracks match, in terms of proportions and size, with the gorgonopsian body fossils found in the same sedimentological succession, in the Port des Canonge Formation. The narrow gauge and the wide values of pace angulation of the studied trackways suggest a primitive upright posture with a parasagittal mode of locomotion. These results shed light on the palaeoequatorial tetrapod communities and their importance in the diversification of early therapsids, as well as on the evolution of locomotion in this group, showing that modifications that would result in the ‘mammalian’ gait were already underway by the early/?middle Permian.
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