Lavinipes CheminiiIchnogen., Ichnosp. nov., A Possible Sauropodomorph Track from the Lower Jurassic of the Italian Alps

A new ichnotaxon is described from the Lower Jurassic (Upper Hettangian-Lower Sinemurian) carbonate tidal flats on the central-eastern Italian Alps. The narrow-gauge trackway is that of a large quadrupedal dinosaur. The pes is functionally tetradactyl with three rounded antero-medially directed digits, and the manus is pentadactyl. This quadrupedal form is close to Otozoum and Pseudotetrasauropus jaquesi both traditionally related to sauropodomorph trackmakers. The similarity with Otozoum is so marked that Lavinipes and Otozoum could be cogeneric. But the overall evidence today is that the Otozoum trackmaker was generally bipedal, whereas the trackmaker of L. cheminii is fully quadrupedal. The manual prints of L. cheminii show five short clawless digits and are different from the tetradactyl slender toed manual prints of Otozoum. The possible sauropodomorph affinity of the L. cheminii trackmaker is here discussed with an attempt to a revision of the Late Triassic-Jurassic tracks which have been traditionally related to sauropod and prosauropod.