Vertebrate footprints from the Agha Jari Formation (late Miocene-Pliocene), Zagros Mountains, and a review of the Cenozoic vertebrate ichnites in the Persian Gulf region

Abstract

ments of the Iranian and Arabian plates is important for the reconstruction of terrestrial vertebrate distribution in the Afro-Eurasian continents after the subduction of NeoTethys. A part of this importance is related to Cenozoic vertebrate migrations between Afro-Eurasian territories via the Iranian corridor (Hopkins 1959, Steininger et al. 1985, Tchernov 1992, Vrba 1992). The Iranian land bridge, however, may have been limited by natural barriers such as the Zagros Mountains, resulting in endemic realms for some species in Central Iran and the Persian Gulf region. Contrary to the body fossils, vertebrate footprints are autochthonous documents, and new data from Cenozoic vertebrate tracks from Persian Gulf region are an important aid for paleobiogeographic studies of the Middle East. In this context, the aim of this study is twofold: 1) to report a new vertebrate tracksite from the Persian Gulf region and, 2) to evaluate Cenozoic mammal and bird ichnodiversity in the Middle East. The new footprints described in this contribution are from the Agha Jari Formation (late Mio cene–Pliocene) in the northwest of Konar Takhteh, Bandar-e Bushehr area, northern Persian Gulf (Fig. 1).