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Résumé :
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We report the first avian footprint from Brazil, preserved in Oligocene lacustrine deposits of the Tremembé Formation (Taubaté Basin). The specimen, collected from a rhythmite bed of gray–black shale at Fazenda Santa Fé (Tremembé, São Paulo), is a well-preserved, small digitigrade track that exhibiting a classic anisodactyl pattern with distinct impressions of digits I–IV, including a posteriorly oriented hallux. Morphological analysis confidently assigns the track to the shorebird-associated ichnogenus Ardeipeda Panin and Avram, 1962, significantly expanding its know paleobiogeographic range. Two associated avian coprolites from the same horizon exhibit a phosphatized composition and undigested prey remains. Sedimentological analysis indicates alternating laminated and massive bedding, consistent with seasonal lake-level fluctuations in a lacustrine setting. Subaerial exposure and cohesive clay substrates facilitated the exceptional preservation of these delicate traces. This discovery fills a critical gap in Brazil’s avian ichnofossil record and provides new insights into Oligocene shorebird habitats and taphonomic processes in rift basin lakes.
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