Made of ashes - an ichnotaxonomic approach to avian trackways from the Late Pleistocene Laacher See Tephra, SW Germany

Exceptionally long trackways and well-preserved tracks of birds from the surface of a fine-grained ash of the late Pleistocene Laacher See Tephra are figured and discussed in terms of ichnotaxonomy, paleoenvironment and behavior of the producers. A new ichnospecies, Gruipeda goodallae, is proposed to encompass these tracks. The previous attribution to galliform birds, namely capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), is considered possible. The producers were most likely foraging for food in a landscape covered by pumice. The lack of ichnological evidence for both courtship behavior and pectinations on the birds’ digits is consistent with previous assumptions on the timing of the Laacher See eruption in late spring or early summer.