Devonian tetrapod trackways and trackmakers; a review of the fossils and footprints
Abstract The earliest tetrapods are known from the Upper Devonian. Their remains are becoming better known from increasing numbers of specimens, localities, environments and ichnofossils. Each of the eight (or possibly nine) genera now represented by skeletal fossils is reviewed in its sedimentological, faunal and stratigraphic context, with an assessment of what might be inferred about the habitus and locomotory capabilities of each. Fossil trackways and their interpretations are then re-examined in the context of the known body forms, and consideration given to the degree of fit between the skeletal fossils, the trackways and their interpretations. The currently known Devonian tetrapods are unlikely to have made any of the known tracks, unless they were produced under water. Neither the skeletal fossils nor the trackways show good evidence of terrestrial locomotion among Devonian tetrapods. When the fossil material and recent phylogenetic analyses are taken in combination, it appears that neither tetrapods nor limbs with digits are likely to have arisen before the Frasnian. This should be borne in mind in palaeoecological studies of these animals.