''Sphingopus'' is an ichnogenus of

dinosauromorph Dinosauromorpha is a clade of avemetatarsalian archosaurs (reptiles closer to birds than to crocodilians) that includes the Dinosauria (dinosaurs) and some of their close relatives. It was originally defined to include dinosauriforms and lag ...

footprints found in sediments dating to 250 and 228 Ma. The exact

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

which created the ''Sphingopus'' tracks have not been identified.

Specimens

''Sphingopus'' type footprints are known from two locations. Fossils dating 228–245 million years have been recovered from what appears to have been a lagoon in the Grès d'Antully Formation in

Saône-et-Loire Saône-et-Loire (; Arpitan: ''Sona-et-Lêre'') is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the rivers Saône and Loire, between which it lies, in the country's central-eastern part. Saône-et-Loire is Bo ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. More recently, older tracks attributed to this form, dating 246–250 million years ago, have been discovered in the Holy Cross Mountains in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

References

Reptile trace fossils {{triassic-animal-stub