Tracing large tetrapod burrows from the Permian of Nei Mongol, China
Pre-Cenozoic terrestrial tetrapod burrows have been found in North America, Antarctica, Morocco, and Poland. These burrows are identified as the production of dicynodonts, cynodonts, therocephalians, therapsid or mammals, procolophon, archosaurs or turtles, although only some of them are based on direct evidence. Dr. LIU Jun, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, and his team reported two large burrows from the Naobaogou Formation of Tumd Right Banner, Nei Mongol (Inner Mongolia), China. It marks the first pre-Cenozoic tetrapod burrow from China, and one of the earliest records of tetrapod burrows in the world. The study published in the latest issue of Acta Geologica Sinica shows the fossorial behavior is not limited in small tetrapods in Permian.