Tracks and trackways of "Praemegaceros" cazioti (Depéret, 1897) (Artiodactyla, Cervidae) in Pleistocene coastal deposits from Sardinia (Western Mediterranean, Italy)

Tracks and trackways, belonging to the ichnogenus Bifidipes Demathieu, Ginsburg, Guerin & Truc, 1984, produced by the endemic cervid “Praemegaceros” cazioti (Depéret, 1897) have been recently discovered in Pleistocene deposits cropping out along the northern and western coast of Sardinia (Italy). Several morphotypes of Bifidipes traces have been observed in foreshore, backshore, washover fan, aeolianites and lagoon deposits. A preliminary analysis of the ichnofossils has been performed in order to illustrate their morphology and spatial distribution in relation to nature of substrate, and animal gait, as well as to compare the tracks left by the Sardinian cervid with those left by Myotragus balearicus Bate 1909, recently assigned to the new ichnospecies Bifidipes aeolis by Fornós, Bromley, Clemmensen & Rodriguez-Perea (2002). Shape and size of the tracks and trackways are consistent with footprints left by a middle-sized artiodactyl, travelling over more or less damp sands or sandy muddy carbonate. Moreover, footprints features (for instance: distance between two successive manus/ pes tracks, stride, pace, pace angle, manus and pes rotation with respect to the midline of trackway travel direction, and pressure pad) suggest a tracemaker having the capability to move with agility on sand beaches or damp aeolian deposits. Sardinian tracks and trackways can be assigned to the ichnogenus Bifidipes, but due to the dissimilarities with respect to B. velox and the Balearic B. aeolis, their specific attribution remains uncertain.