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Chirotherium sickleri ✝

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Description

Chirotherium, also known as Cheirotherium (‘hand-beast’), is a Triassic trace fossil consisting of five-fingered (pentadactyle) footprints and whole tracks. These look, by coincidence, remarkably like the hands of apes and bears, with the outermost toe having evolved to extend out to the side like a thumb, although probably only functioning to provide a firmer grip in mud. Chirotherium tracks were first found in 1834 in Lower Triassic sandstone (Buntsandstein) in Thuringia, Germany, dating from about 243 million years ago (mya).

From Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chirotherium_sickleri, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Source Data

Source	ID	Link
Global Biodiversity Information Facility ID (GBIF)	8667455	https://www.gbif.org/species/8667455
PaleoBioDB ID (PBDB)	249179	https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=249179

Rank

species

Taxonomy (GBIF)

Life : Animalia : Chordata : Reptilia : Chirotheriidae : Chirotherium : Chirotherium sickleri

Taxonomy (PBDB)

Life : Animalia : Chordata : Reptilia : Thecodontia : Chirotherium : Chirotherium sickleri

Taxonomic Status (GBIF)

accepted

Classification
(PBDB,GBIF)

Rank	Name	Author
-	Eukaryota
-	Opisthokonta	Cavalier-Smith 1987
kingdom	Animalia
-	Triploblastica	Lankester 1877
-	Nephrozoa	Jondelius et al. 2002
-	Deuterostomia	Grobben 1908
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1847
subphylum	Vertebrata	Lamarck 1801
superclass	Gnathostomata	Gegenbauer 1874
-	Osteichthyes
-	Sarcopterygii	Romer 1955
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha
-	Tetrapoda
-	Reptiliomorpha	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Anthracosauria	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Batrachosauria
-	Cotylosauria
-	Amniota	Haeckel 1866
-	Sauropsida	Huxley 1864
class	Reptilia	Laurenti 1768
subclass	Eureptilia
-	Romeriida	Gauthier et al. 1988
-	Diapsida
-	Eosuchia
-	Neodiapsida	Benton 1985
-	Sauria	Gauthier 1984
-	Archosauromorpha
-	Crocopoda	Ezcurra 2016
-	Archosauriformes	Gauthier 1986
-	Eucrocopoda	Ezcurra 2016
-	Archosauria
order	Thecodontia	Owen 1859
genus	Chirotherium	Kaup 1835
species	Chirotherium sickleri	Kaup 1835

Generic Name

Chirotherium

Scientific Name

Chirotherium sickleri Kaup, 1835

Opinions (PBDB)

Name	Rank	Opinion	Evidence	Author
Chirotherium sickleri	species	belongs to Chirotherium	stated with evidence	Kaup, 1835
Chirotherium sickleri	species	belongs to Chirotherium	stated without evidence	Kirchner, 1927
Chirotherium sickleri	species	subjective synonym of Chirotherium minus	stated without evidence	Kuhn, 1958
Chirotherium sickleri	species	belongs to Chirotherium	stated with evidence	Haubold, 1969
Chirotherium sickleri	species	belongs to Chirotherium	stated without evidence	Haubold, 1969
Chirotherium sickleri	species	belongs to Chirotherium	stated with evidence	King et al., 2005
Chirotherium sickleri	species	belongs to Chirotherium	stated without evidence	Klein and Haubold, 2007
Chirotherium sickleri	species	belongs to Chirotherium	stated with evidence	Klein and Lucas, 2010

Status (PBDB)

extinct

Taxon Size (PBDB)

First Recorded Appearance

252 - 247 Ma
Phanerozoic

Last Recorded Appearance

247 - 242 Ma
Triassic

Environment

terrestrial (based on Diapsida)

Motility

actively mobile (based on Osteichthyes)

Diet

carnivore (based on Thecodontia)

Taphonomy

phosphatic (based on Vertebrata)

Primary Reference (PBDB)

H. Klein and S. G. Lucas. 2010. Review of the tetrapod ichnofauna of the Moenkopi Formation/Group (Early-Middle Triassic) of the American Southwest. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Bulletin 50:1-67

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chirotherium_sickleri

Fossil Distribution

Obsolete Names

Name	Source	Taxon Rank	Taxonomy
Chirotherium bornemanni Willruth, 1917	GBIF	species	Animalia : Chordata : Reptilia : Chirotheriidae : Chirotherium : *Chirotherium bornemanni*
Chirotherium beasleyi Peabody, 1948	GBIF	species	Animalia : Chordata : Reptilia : Chirotheriidae : Chirotherium : *Chirotherium beasleyi*
Chirotherium pfeifferi Soergel, 1925	GBIF	species	Animalia : Chordata : Reptilia : Chirotheriidae : Chirotherium : *Chirotherium pfeifferi*
Chirotherium minus Sickler, 1836	GBIF	species	Animalia : Chordata : Reptilia : Chirotheriidae : Chirotherium : *Chirotherium minus*

Synonymy List

Year	Name and Author
1835	Chirotherium sickleri Kaup
1836	Chirotherium minus Sickler
1886	Chirotherium minus Winkler p. 191
1917	Chirotherium bornemanni Willruth
1923	Chirotherium beasleyi Nopcsa
1927	Chirotherium sickleri Kirchner p. 118
1938	Chirotherium bornemanni Schmidt p. 124
1938	Chirotherium sickleri Schmidt p. 124
1948	Chirotherium beasleyi Peabody p. 347
1948	Chirotherium minus Peabody p. 358
1952	Chirotherium bornemanni Lang and Huene p. 4
1952	Chirotherium sickleri Lang and Huene p. 6
1954	Chirotherium minus Baird p. 168
1954	Chirotherium beasleyi Baird p. 172

Year	Name and Author
1957	Chirotherium minus Baird p. 482
1958	Chirotherium beasleyi Kuhn p. 21
1958	Chirotherium minus Kuhn p. 21
1959	Chirotherium minus Schmidt p. 97
1969	Chirotherium sickleri Haubold p. 92 fig. 2
1972	Chirotherium sickleri Demathieu and Haubold p. 805
1975	Chirotherium sickleri Sarjeant p. 301
1997	Chirotherium beasleyi Tresise and Sarjeant
2003	Chirotherium minus Tresise p. 134
2003	Chirotherium sickleri Tresise p. 137
2005	Chirotherium sickleri King et al.
2007	Chirotherium sickleri Klein and Haubold p. 120
2010	Chirotherium sickleri Klein and Lucas p. 31

References

Klein H., Lucas S. G. (2010) Review of the tetrapod ichnofauna of the Moenkopi Formation/Group (Early-Middle Triassic) of the American Southwest, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Bulletin 50, 1-67

Winkler T. C. , Histoire de l’Ichnologie. Étude Ichnologique sur les Empreintes de Pas d’Animaux Fossiles, Suivie de la Description des Plaques à Impressions d’Animaux qui se Trouvent au Musée Teyler [History of Ichnology. Ichnological Study of Fossil Animal Footprints, Followed by the Description of Slabs with Animal Impressions found in Teyler’s Museum], iv-200

Kirchner H. (1927) Über die Tierfährten im oberen Buntsandstein Frankens [On the animal footprints in the Franconian upper Buntsandstein], Palaeontologische Zeitschrift 9 1–3, 112-122

Peabody F. E. (1948) Reptile and amphibian trackways from the Lower Triassic Moenkopi formation of Arizona and Utah, University of California Publications, Bulletin of the Department of Geological Sciences 27 8, 295-468

Lang M., Huene F. v. (1952) , Die Saurier Thüringens nach Erhebungen ihres centralen Betreuters Dr. med. u. Dr. rer. nat. h. c. Hugo Rühle von Lilienstern† [The Dinosaurs of Thuringia after Surveys of Their Central Supervisor M.D. and Dr. Nat. Sci. Hugo Rühle von Lilienstern†], 1-42

Baird D. (1954) Chirotherium lulli, a pseudosuchian reptile from New Jersey, Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 111 4, 165-192

Baird D. (1957) Triassic reptile footprint faunules from Milford, New Jersey, Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 117 5, 449-520

Kuhn O. (1958) , Die Fährten der vorzeitlichen Amphibien und Reptilien [The Tracks of Prehistoric Amphibians and Reptiles], 1-64

Schmidt H. (1959) Die Cornberger Fährten im Rahmen der Vierfüssler-Entwicklung [The Cornberger tracks as part of the evolution of quadrupeds], Abhandlungen des Hessischen Landesamtes für Bodenforschung 28, 1-137

Haubold H. (1969) Die Evolution der Archosaurier in der Trias aus der Sicht ihrer Fährten [The evolution of archosaurs in the Triassic from the perspective of their tracks], Hercynia 6 1, 90-106

Demathieu G. R., Haubold H. (1972) Stratigraphische Aussagen der Tetrapodenfährten aus der terrestrischen Trias Europas [Stratigraphic statements about the tetrapod tracks from the European terrestrial Triassic], Geologie 21, 802-836

Tresise G., Sarjeant W. A. S. (1997) The Tracks of Triassic Vertebrates: Fossil Evidence from North-West England, 1-204

King M. J., Sarjeant W. A. S., et al (2005) A Revised Systematic Ichnotaxonomy and Review of the Vertebrate Footprint Ichnofamily Chirotheriidae from the British Triassic, Ichnos 12 4, 241-299 doi:10.1080/10420940591009312

Klein H., Haubold H. (2007) Archosaur footprints – potential for biochronology of Triassic continental sequences, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 41, 120-130

Data courtesy of: PBDB: The Paleobiology Database, Creative Commons CC-BY licenced. , GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, various licences, iDigBio, various licences, and EOL: The Encyclopedia of Life (Open Data Public Domain). Because fossils are made of minerals too!

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