Platykopus Sarjeant, Reynolds & Kissell-Jones, 2002

Abbassi, Nasrollah, Salehi Tinooni, Mohammad, Ghorbani Dehnavi, Mahdi, Shakeri, Safoora & Eshaghi, Ali, 2024, Oligocene vertebrate footprints from the Lower Red Formation, Central Iran, Fossil Record 27 (2), pp. 265-287 : 265-287

Ichnogenus Platykopus Sarjeant, Reynolds & Kissell-Jones, 2002

Type ichnospecies.

Platykopus ilycalcator Sarjeant, Reynolds and Kissell-Jones (2002) .

Diagnosis.

Large plantigrade footprints with digits close to manual / pedal pad. Manus width is similar to that of the pes, with the pes being slightly narrower and elongated due to a metatarsal pad. Five digits on manus and pes are clawed, and digits II – V are of equal length on a quadratic manus with digit I offset. Digits I – V form a symmetrical arc around the pes, with digits I and V being shorter than II and IV.

Discussion.

Sarjeant et al. (2002) introduced Platykopus from Late Miocene of Nevada for large plantigrade footprints with digits close to manual / pedial pad and compared its tracks to those of creodonts and amphycyonids. Recently, Platykopus has been identified by ichnologists for medium to large, pentadactyl plantigrade footprints with an undeveloped metatarsus imprint in manus. Abbassi (2010) attributed footprints that are semiplantigrade with five short digits with distinct digit V from the Miocene of Iran to Platykopus, and he reported Platykopus from the Oligocene of the Eastern Mountains of Iran ( Abbassi et al. 2015). Botfalvai et al. (2023) re-examined large pentadactyl footprints from the Miocene Ipolytarnóc of Hungary by 3 D methods and concluded that footprints previously defined as Bestiopeda maxima should be reclassified under the Platykopus ichnogenus as Platykopus maxima . Platykopus differs from Zanclonychopus Sarjeant and Langston (1994) by larger width and shorter digit imprints.