Large-diameter burrows in the Upper Triassic Ischigualasto Formation, Northwestern Argentina

COLOMBI, C.E.; JOFRÉ, C.; CURRIE, B.

AMEGHINIANA

ASOCIACION PALEONTOLOGICA ARGENTINA

Lugar: Buenos Aires; Año: 2008 vol. 45 p. 797 - 801

0002-7014

Burrow complexes with multiple tunnels and chambers were found in middle paleolatitude floodplain deposits from the Upper Triassic Ischigualasto Formation in the Northwest of Argentina. These burrow complexes are assigned to small tetrapod, more likely associated with the diverse and numerous Ischigualasto fauna of small carnivorous cynodonts. These findings comprise the earliest record of tetrapod burrows in South America and confirm the non latitudinal distribution of large non marine burrowing organisms. The Triassic simultaneous appearance of fossorial behavior throughout Pangea could be a mechanism against adverse climatic conditions associated with extreme seasonality.