A Pennsylvanian Tetrapod Trackway from Joggins, Nova Scotia: the Size Continuum of Batrachichnus Salamandroides

A tetrapod trackway from the Lower Pennsylvanian at the historic section at Joggins, Nova Scotia, preserves 13 pairs of impressions with a possible partial tail drag. Although overstepping and poor preservation obscure many of the diagnostic features, the pes is plantigrade to semi-plantigrade and distinctly pentadactyl, with digit length increasing sequentially I-III. The manus may be tetradactyl, but no single impression allows this to be stated confidently. The size of the tracks is within the known range of Batrachichnus salamandroides, which is known from the same location, and so these tracks are assigned to this ichnospecies. The trackmaker was a small temnospondyl, although multiple candidates are known from body fossils in this section.