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Middle Pennsylvanian Ichnofauna from Eastern Oklahoma, USA
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By the New Mexico Museum of Natural History, Albuquerque, New Mexico and the Department of Biology, Oklahoma State University,
Stillwater, Oklahoma
Pre-Dinosaur Fossil Amphibian (tetrapod) Tracks from Oklahoma
These fossil tracks are in a sandstone or siltstone matrix from the Middle Pennsylvanian Period, and are
approximately 300 Million years old. The fossil tracks are either of the ichnogenera Notalacerta (longer
toes) or Psuedobradypus (shorter toes). These great trace fossils come from a fossil track site that was
discovered in Haskell County Oklahoma, from the McAlester Formation. Other trace fossils discovered here have included arthropod
trackways, insect resting traces, fish swimming traces, and even fossilized raindrops, indicating a shallow wetland that was
sometimes dry.
Some of the finest specimens from this private property site were donated for study to the New Mexico Museum
of Natural History, one of the premier institutions for the study of trace fossils. Personnel from the
Museum indicated that it was their belief that this site was “…one of the most important Pennsylvanian age track
sites in North America”.
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