Brasilichnium

Brasilichnium is the name of fossilised mammaliamorph footprints dating from the Jurassic and Cretaceous. They have been identified from Brazil and western North America.^[1]

Brasilichnium
Trace fossil classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Synapsida
Ichnofamily:	†Chelichnopodidae
Ichnogenus:	†Brasilichnium Leonardi 1981
Type ichnospecies
†Brasilichium elusivum (Leonardi, 1983)
Ichnospecies
†Brasilichnium elusivum Leonardi, 1983

Brasilichnium is the name of the footprints, identified by their shape, and not of the genus or genera that made them, which is as yet unknown but was likely a mammaliamorph with a semi-erect leg posture. Mammaliamorphs were ancestors of modern mammals.^[2]

See also

• List of dinosaur ichnogenera

• Dinosaurs portal

Notes

1. Lockley, M.G. (2011). "The ichnotaxonomic status of Brasilichnium with special reference to occurrences in the Navajo Sandstone (Lower Jurassic) in the western USA". New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin. 53: 306–315. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
2. D'Orazi Porchetti, Simone; Bertini, Reinaldo J.; Langer, Max C. (January 2017). "Walking, running, hopping: Analysis of gait variability and locomotor skills in Brasilichnium elusivum Leonardi, with inferences on trackmaker identification". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 465: 14–29. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.10.009. hdl:11449/173809.