Late Carboniferous-Early Permian Tetrapod Ichnofauna from the Khenifra Basin, Central Morocco

In terms of cumulative thickness and areal extent, the Khenifra Basin is one of the most important outcrops of Late Palaeozoic red-beds in central Morocco. Macro- and microfloral remains near the centre of the 1800 m-thick succession of interbedded conglomerates, sandstones, and mudstones are considered to be of middle to late Early Permian age. Here we give the first comprehensive analysis of the vertebrate ichnofossil record from the study area, based on 17 specimens of isolated footprints and incomplete step cycles collected at three localities that are lithostratigraphically equivalent to the plant-bearing horizons. The tetrapod ichnofauna comprises tracks of the plexus Batrachichnus Woodworth - Limnopus Marsh, Ichniotherium sphaerodactylum (Pabst), Dimetropus Romer and Price, and Dromopus Marsh which can be referred to temnospondyl, diadectomorph, synapsid (pelycosaurian) and early sauropsid trackmakers. This clearly Euramerican footprint assemblage, including, the first occurrences of Ichniotherium and Dimetropus from outside Europe and North America, indicates a Late Carboniferous to Early Permian age of the fossiliferous strata. Judging from the relatively diverse ichnofauna and flora, the Khenifra Basin must have represented a well-established terrestrial ecosystem during that period. Its habitat could be specially important for the understanding of the phylogeny and dispersal of early tetrapods, in as we are able to report on an extremely rare type of diadectomorph footprint hitherto known only from the Early Permian of central Germany. (C) 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.