In recent decades, vertebrate ichnology has passed from a mere corollary to the study of body fossils, to an autonomous discipline in constant development. When compared with other branches of palaeontology, and in particular with the classic study of body fossils, ichnology is able to provide a 'vivid' and unique image of the organisms that have left their traces, generating a rich variety of inferences such as the behaviour and various other aspects of trackmaker biology and physiology. Several features of extant tetrapod general biology, including for example static and dynamic posture, biomechanics of locomotion, social behaviour, and related inferences about metabolism and general physiology, have been deepened and better understood by ichnological studies. Tetrapod footprints represent a crucial source of evidence also in the field of paleobiogeographic reconstruction, leading to conspicuous reviews of long-debated geodynamic interpretations. In the present research project we propose a multidisciplinary approach, capable of integrating geological and ichnological classical study techniques with new cutting-edge methodologies, also through the implementation of new digital techniques and software. This approach will be applied to two case studies, represented by the Sezze ichnosite (Latium, Central Italy) and the Gardetta Plateau ichnosite (Piedmont, Western Alps, Italy), and will potentially allow to make important inferences about: i) type of track producers; ii) sedimentary environment and mechanisms of footprint formation and preservation (ecological and paleoclimatic aspects); iii) reconstruction of a complex locomotor cycle in trackmakers, recognized starting from the differential depth of the tracks; iv) paleobiogeographical inferences on a regional scale based on the new occurrences indicated by the footprints, and their impact on the accepted geodynamic models.
