This is the accepted version of the article: Matamales Andreu, Rafel; Mujal, Eudald; Galobart, Àngel; [et al.]. «Insights on the evolution of synapsid locomotion based on tetrapod tracks from the lower Permian of Mallorca (Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean)». Palaeogeogra- phy, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Vol. 579 (October 2021), art. 110589. DOI 10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110589 This version is available at https://ddd.uab.cat/record/248974 under the terms of the license 1 Insights on the evolution of synapsid locomotion based on tetrapod tracks from the lower 2 Permian of Mallorca (Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean) 3 Rafel Matamales-Andreu1,2*, Eudald Mujal1,3, Àngel Galobart1,4 & Josep Fortuny1 4 1 5 Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici 6 ICTA-ICP, c/ Columnes s/n, Campus de la UAB, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain. 7 2 8 Museu Balear de Ciències Naturals, ctra. Palma-Port de Sóller km 30, 07100 Sóller. Mallorca, 9 Illes Balears, Spain. 10 3 11 Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Rosenstein 1, 70191 Stuttgart, Germany. 12 4 13 Museu de la Conca Dellà, c/ del Museu 4, 25650 Isona i Conca Dellà, Lleida, Spain. 14 15 *Corresponding author: rafel.matamales@icp.cat 16 17 18 Abstract 19 “Pelycosaur”-grade synapsids were a successful group of terrestrial tetrapods that lived 20 during the Carboniferous and Permian, utilising a wide diversity of ecological niches. They are 21 considered the trackmakers of the ichnogenera Dimetropus and possibly also Dromopus and 22 Tambachichnium, found in upper Palaeozoic deposits of North America, North Africa and 23 Europe. Here we describe a new morphotype from the lower Permian of Mallorca (Balearic 24 Islands, western Mediterranean), identified as cf. Dimetropus isp., which was purportedly 25 produced by caseid synapsids. The trackmaker identity is inferred based on the digit proportions, 26 as caseids are the only pelycosaurs with species showing mesaxonic autopodia, and a relative 27 depth pattern (corresponding to the functional prevalence of the autopodia of the trackmaker) 28 showing an overall similarity to that of Dimetropus osageorum, which is also attributed to caseids. 29 A detailed study of the expulsion rims and drag traces makes it possible to infer the mode of 30 locomtion of the trackmaker, with a gait alternating the movement of manus and pedes of the two 1 31 sides of the body and lateral undulation of the spine. Our results provide new information 32 concerning the locomotion of early synapsids, which would undergo important functional 33 modifications latter in their evolutionary history such as a shift from abducted to adducted posture 34 and lateral to sagittal bending of the axial skeleton. 35 36 Key-words: ichnology; photogrammetry; “Pelycosauria”; functional prevalence; equatorial 37 Pangaea 38 39 1. Introduction 40 Synapsids were a key tetrapod clade in late Palaeozoic terrestrial ecosystems, including 41 herbivores with high-fibre diet, small predators and large hypercarnivores, which occupied a 42 variety of ecological niches (Kemp, 2005; Angielczyk & Kammerer, 2018). Carboniferous and 43 Permian synapsids are nowadays included in two major clades: “pelycosaur”-grade synapsids, 44 comprising the most basal groups (Romer & Price, 1940), and non-mammalian therapsids, which 45 diversified over the middle and late Permian (Angielczyk & Kammerer, 2018). Regarding their 46 ichnological record, late Palaeozoic synapsids are represented by nine different ichnogenera, three 47 of which correspond to pelycosaurs (Dromopus, Tambachichnium and Dimetropus) and six to 48 therapsids (Brontopus, Karoopes, Capitosauroides, Dicynodontipus, Dolomitipes and 49 Procolophonichnium; the latter four also present in Triassic deposits) (Marchetti et al., 2019a, 50 2019b, Spindler et al., 2019). Some common traits of these ichnogenera (albeit not always 51 present) are the deeper impression of the median-lateral region of the tracks (median-lateral 52 functiontal prevalence of autopodia), tracks with paw-like shape (with faintly imprinted proximal 53 part of digits and conspicuos metatarso-/metacarpophalangeal pad and digit tip imprints) because 54 of the digital arcade of synapsid phalanges, and well-imprinted palms and soles (Marchetti et al., 55 2019a; Mujal et al., 2020). 56 The only ichnogenus attributed to synapsids that had been (preliminarily) reported so far 57 from the lower Permian beds of Mallorca (Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean) was 58 Dimetropus (Matamales-Andreu et al., 2019), with forms similar to Dimetropus leisnerianus. The 2 59 present work analyses newly discovered tetrapod tracks and a trackway that correspond to a 60 second, hitherto unkown morphotype of Dimetropus. Those ichnites, attributable to a synapsid 61 trackmaker, possibly a caseid, enlarge the ichnofaunal diversity of the lower Permian of central 62 equatorial Pangaea, and also provide new insights on the evolution of synapsid locomotion. 63 64 2. Geographical and geological context 65 Mallorca is the largest of the Balearic Islands (western Mediterranean) (Figure 1A), and 66 it is broadly structured in three mountain ranges of SW–NE orientation, with rocks ranging from 67 the Carboniferous to the middle Miocene, and basins filled with sediments ranging from the upper 68 Miocene to the Holocene. The nomenclature of the Permian and Triassic lithostratigraphic units 69 of Mallorca is in need of a thorough revision, as each of the main authors who studied them 70 (Calafat, 1988; Gómez-Gras, 1993; Ramos, 1995) established different names and boundaries for 71 the units, which have never been formally described. However, such a review is beyond the scope 72 of the present work, which uses a nomenclature of correlative letters (from lowermost to 73 uppermost: A, B and C) for the three main lithostratigraphic units (Figure 1B), based on the 74 stratigraphic logs of Gómez-Gras (1993), which are herein considered to be the most exhaustive 75 of those so far published. 76 The Racó de s’Algar tracksite (Calafat et al., 1986, 1986–1987; Calafat, 1988), where the 77 ichnites studied herein were discovered, corresponds to the bases of two fine-grained sandstone 78 beds located in Unit B (metre 32 of the log “E” of Calafat, 1988) (Figure 1B–C). These two beds 79 are mostly tabular, although they wedge laterally, and show climbing ripple lamination, 80 corresponding to two successive point bars of a meandering river deposit separated by a thin bed 81 of mudstones, probably representing seasonal stagnation and desiccation of the channel (Figure 82 1D–E). Their bases preserve, as natural casts, the sedimentary (large mud-cracks) and biogenic 83 (tetrapod ichnites) structures recorded on the surfaces of the underlying sandy mudstone beds, 84 which nowadays are mostly eroded. The irregularity of the ichnite-bearing surfaces, reminiscent 85 of “wrinkle structures”, points to algal mat development, which probably also contributed to the 86 mode of impression and preservation of the tracks. The succession encompassing the tetrapod 3 87 tracks is here interpreted as a waterhole environment, with a facies assemblage that is similar to 88 that of the seasonally-dry fluvial environments from the upper Carboniferous of Nova Scotia 89 (Falcon-Lang et al., 2004, 2007). In the succession of Mallorca, such a sedimentary setting can 90 be inferred based on the presence of wave ripples developed on the channel bed, suggesting 91 stagnation of the water, and subsequent desiccation of the pool, as indicated by the large mud 92 cracks (Figure 1C, E). 93 Placed in the general framework of the Permian lithostratigraphic units of Mallorca 94 (Figure 1B), this tracksite is located in the middle–upper part of what is herein called Unit B 95 (=“Racó de s’Algar unit” of Calafat, 1988; =“Stretch a” of Gómez-Gras, 1993; =“Port des 96 Canonge unit” of Ramos, 1995), which was interpreted as a meandering river system (Calafat, 97 1988; Gómez-Gras, 1993; Ramos, 1995). This unit was dated as Permian based on the discovery 98 of moradisaurine captorhinid eureptiles, both in the form of bones (Liebrecht et al., 2017) and 99 tracks (Gand et al., 2010, revising the ichnites figured by Calafat et al., 1986–1987). More 100 recently, Matamales-Andreu et al. (2019) tentatively suggested that the age could be narrowed 101 down to the lower Permian based on the presence of Dimetropus (possibly D. leisnerianus), and 102 further constrained it to the upper part of the Cisuralian (Artinskian–Kungurian) because of the 103 great abundance of tracks attributed to eureptiles (Hyloidichnus) and the rarity of tracks produced 104 by anamniotes (see discussion on the Artinskian–Kungurian reptile radiation by Marchetti et al., 105 2015, 2019c). 106 107 3. Material and methods 108 Five slabs with ichnites (natural casts) from the same stratigraphic surface of the Racó de 109 s’Algar tracksite (upper ichnite-bearing bed; Figure 1C) are described in the present work. The 110 material collected in situ for the present study consists of a right manus imprint (DA21/15-05- 111 01), housed at the Museu de Mallorca (Palma, Mallorca, Spain, acronym DA21/15-##-##). 112 Moreover, three more slabs were found in situ but not collected (it was not possible, as they were 113 in the base of an unstable cliff; field acronym NA-26-##): one with a poorly preserved left manus- 114 pes set (NA-26-02), one with a poorly preserved right pes imprint (NA-26-03), and one with a 4 115 left manus imprint (NA-26-05). Lastly, from the Tomeu Sáez collection (private collection, 116 Binissalem, Mallorca, Spain; acronym TS-#), we have examined one slab with a trackway 117 comprising three manus-pes sets (TS-3), collected in situ in the early 1980s. Ichnites within a 118 same slab have been identified with correlative lowercase letters. In the preservation scale of 119 Marchetti et al. (2019d), most of the tracks studied herein score a 2 (good preservation), although 120 some could be attributed to 1 (intermediate preservation) or even 0 (poor preservation). Therefore, 121 and although they appear to be sensibly different from previously known ichnotaxa of this age, 122 no new ichnospecies will be defined here. 123 Digital 3D models of all the surfaces with ichnites have been produced using the 124 photogrammetry technique, mostly based on the procedure explained by Mujal et al. (2020). 125 Agisoft Photoscan standard version 1.1.4. (http://www.agisoft.com) has been used to align the 126 photographs, to create the meshes and textures, and to crop the model. MeshLab version 2016.12 127 (http://meshlab.sourceforge.net) has been used to clean, align, scale and measure the mesh. 128 ParaView version 4.1.0 64-bit (http://www.paraview.org) has been used to create the false colour- 129 coded depth maps with contours. ImageJ version 1.52d (https://imagej.nih.gov/ij) has been used 130 to measure the main descriptive parameters for each footprint and the trackway (see Leonardi, 131 1987; Hasiotis et al., 2007), herein presented in Tables 1–2. In order to compare the tracks from 132 Mallorca to their possible trackmaker, bones of the caseid Ennatosaurus tecton were measured 133 on the scaled 3D model provided by Romano et al. (2017). 134 135 4. Systematic palaeoichnology 136 137 Ichnogenus Dimetropus Romer et Price, 1940 138 139 cf. Dimetropus isp. 140 141 Figures 2–3; Tables 1–2. 142 5 143 Studied material: DA21/15-05-01, a natural cast of a right manus imprint. NA-26-02, a 144 poorly preserved natural cast of a left manus-pes set (not collected). NA-26-03, a poorly preserved 145 natural cast of a right pes imprint (not collected). NA-26-05, a natural cast of a left manus imprint 146 (not collected). TS-3, a natural cast of a trackway with two left manus-pes sets and a right manus- 147 pes set. All from the lower Permian of the upper ichnite-bearing bed of the Racó de s’Algar 148 tracksite, Banyalbufar, Mallorca, Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean. 149 Description: Pes track semiplantigrade, pentadactyl, almost as long as wide (ca. 7.3–8.3 150 cm). The digit imprints are slender, strongly curved laterally (outwards) and relatively long. 151 Preservation is quite variable: in some cases, the distal parts of digits are not well imprinted 152 (especially digits II and III) (Figure 2A–B), whereas in other cases digit I seems to be imprinted 153 twice (Figures 2C, 3A). No clear claw traces have been observed on any specimen. The relative 154 length of the digit imprints is ordered as follows: V