Lopingian

The Laurinswand section in the Rosengarten/Catinaccio Massif (Dolomites, Southern Alps, Italy) covers the Permian-Triassic boundary in a proximal marine setting. The section has been studied for palynology, ostracods and carbonate microfacies. Five microfacies types are defined for the carbonates of the Bellerophon Formation (Changhsingian) in this section. Ostracod assemblages from the upper Bellerophon Formation show a moderate to high diversity and mostly indicate normal marine conditions, with some samples from the upper Casera Razzo Member being dominated by eurytopic forms. The ostracod fauna follows transgressive-regressive trends with low diverse assemblages occurring in the regres-sive parts. These trends are also reflected in the microfacies and can be assigned to three sequences. Palynological assemblages are dominated by phytoclasts, which is typical for proximal marine environments. Sporomorphs are represented predominantly by bisaccate and asaccate pollen grains and are mostly minor components of the palynofacies. Other minor , but consistent components in the Bellerophon Formation are acritarchs, Reduviasporonites and unidentified possible algae or fungi. The latter are particularly abundant in samples with ostracod faunas indicating restricted conditions. The Werfen Formation (uppermost Permian to Lower Triassic) yielded quantitatively poor palynological assemblages, with one sample from the Tesero Member showing a notable increase in spores and spore tetrads. This is indicative of the so-called "spore spike", a well-known signal from this interval. One sample from the overlying Mazzin Member demonstrated a high relative abundance of Reduviasporonites, which may be related to mass occurrences of this taxon in the Tesero Member at Tesero and at other localities near the Permian-Triassic boundary. Such a mass occurrence normally pre-dates the spore spike, whereas at the Laurinswand, the former postdates the latter considerably.

After new studies were carried out in the Lopingian Val Gardena Sandstone of northern Italy, in the Recoaro area (Venetian Prealps, NE Italy), the following tetrapod ichnotaxa are identified: cf. Capitosauroides isp., cf. Merifontichnus isp., Pachypes isp., Paradoxichnium isp., and Rynchosauroides isp., probably corresponding to ?parareptile, captorhinid eureptile, pareiasaurid parareptile, archosauromorph neodiapsid, and lacertoid neodiapsid trackmakers, respectively. An undetermined track shows features consistent with possible therapsid producers. These are the first possible records of Merifontichnus and Capitosauroides in the Lopingian (late Permian) and one of the few records of Paradoxichnium worldwide. The paleoecology of the ichnoassociation highlights a relatively high diversity in the floodplain lithofa-cies, a monospecific association of Rhynchosauroides in distal floodplain/sabkha environments and the occurrence of Paradoxichnium isp. and cf. Capitosauroides only in the lagoon lithofacies, suggesting different habits of the trackmakers. The tetrapod ichnoassociation is characterized by eureptile and parareptile tracks, and differs from the classic Lopingian tetrapod ichnoassociation of the Dolomites mainly because of the absence of chirotheriid and small parareptile ichnotaxa. A comparison of the Italian tetrapod ichnoassociation with other Lopingian non-eolian ichnofaunas suggests a possible preference for marginal marine settings by the archosauromorph and therapsid trackmakers at low-latitudes of Pangaea.