Late Permian vertebrate tracks from the Tumlin Sandstone, Holy Cross Mountains, Poland

This paper describes the vertebrate ichnofauna from the Tumlin Sandstone (Buntsandstein) of the Holy Cross Mountains in Poland. The footprint assemblage has previously been regarded as Early Triassic in age; however, ichnogenera characteristic of the Late Permian are now recognized. Lack of representatives of the ichnofamily Chirotheriidae, characteristic of continental Triassic sediments worldwide, also indicates a Permian rather than a Triassic age for the studied assemblage. Three ichnogenera (Batrachichnus, Limnopus, and Amphisauropus) produced by amphibians are recognized, the remainder (Varanopus, Chelichnus, Dimetropus, Rhynchosauroides, Palmichnus, Paradoxichnium, and Phalangichnus) being of reptilian origin. Batrachichnus cf. salamandroides (Geinitz, 1861), Limnopus cf. zeilleri (Delage, 1912), Amphisauropus cf. latus Haubold, 1970, Varanopus aff. microdactylus (Pabst, 1896), Chelichnus cf. duncani (Owen, 1842), and Dimetropussp. are recorded in the Lower Buntsandstein for the first time. The following new ichnospecies are erected: Rhynchosauroides kuletae ichnosp. nov., Palmichnus lacertoides ichnosp. nov., Paradoxichnium tumlinense ichnosp. nov., Phalangichnus gradzinskii ichnosp. nov., and Phalangichnus gagoli ichnosp. nov.