Abundant and well-preserved fossil vertebrate footprints were discovered on the topmost bedding planes of the Lower Miocene regolith in 1900 and have been excavated, studied and reinterpreted since then. The preservation of the tracks has been attributed to the volcanic activity that instantly covered the paleosurface.
In the year of 2018 at least 40 taxa of vertebrates is known with 11 certain species. At present, just of the birds several thousand specimens of 15 ichnotaxa are identified. (Kordos 2018).
The most common herbivorous mammalian trace fossils include the footprints of hornless prehistoric rhinoceroses and ungulates. Beardogs, nimravids and weasel-like carnivores were also present in the terrestrial habitats.
The introduced 3D laser scanning of the recent years has contributed to the recognition of amphibian and reptile fauna of the wide-spread wetland paleohabitats: lizard, turtle and crocodile trace fossils are under study. The rich invertebrate trace fossils have not been classified so far.
Link to the newest publications on the tracks.
