Better known and more highly respected fossil finds in Franconia come from the unfolded sedimentary rocks of the Triassic and Jurassic. The bunter sandstone, however, only has a relatively small number of preserved whole fossils. Much more commonly, it contains trace fossils, especially the tetrapod footprints of Chirotherium. The type locality for these animal tracks is Hildburghausen in the Thuringian part of Franconia, where it occurs in the so-called Thuringian Chirotherium Sandstone (Thüringer Chirotheriensandstein, main Middle Bunter Sandstone).Hartmut Haubold: Die Saurierfährten Chirotherium barthii Kaup, 1835 - das Typusmaterial aus dem Buntsandstein bei Hildburghausen/Thüringen und das "Chirotherium-Monument". Publication by the Natural History Museum, Schleusingen, vol. 21, 2006, pp. 3–31 Chirotherium is also found in the Bavarian and Württemberg parts of Franconia. Sites include Aura near Bad Kissingen, Karbach, Gambach and Külsheim.Frank-Otto Haderer, Georges Demathieu, Ronald Böttcher: Wirbeltier-Fährten aus dem Rötquarzit (Oberer Buntsandstein, Mittlere Trias) von Hardheim bei Wertheim/Main (Süddeutschland). Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, Serie B. No. 230, 1995, online There the deposits are somewhat younger (Upper Bunter Sandstone), and the corresponding stratigraphic interval is called the Franconian Chirotherium Beds (Fränkische Chirotherienschichten). Among the less significant body fossil records of vertebrates are the procolophonid Anomoiodon liliensterni from Reurieth in the Thuringian part of FranconiaLaura K. Säilä: The Osteology and Affinities of Anomoiodon liliensterni, a Procolophonid Reptile from the Lower Triassic Buntsandstein of Germany. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Vol. 28, No. 4, 2008, pp. 1199–1205, doi:10.1671/0272-4634-28.4.1199 and Koiloskiosaurus coburgiensis from Mittelberg near Coburg,Friedrich von Huene: Ueber die Procolophoniden, mit einer neuen Form aus dem Buntsandstein. Centralblatt für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie. 1911 issue, 1911, pp. 78–83 both from the Thuringian Chirotherium Sandstone, and the Temnospondyle Mastodonsaurus ingens (possibly identical with the mastodonsaurus, Heptasaurus cappelensis) from the Upper Bunter at Gambach.Rainer R. Schoch: Comparative osteology of Mastodonsaurus giganteus (Jaeger, 1828) from the Middle Triassic (Lettenkeuper: Longobardian) of Germany (Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Thüringen). Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, Series B. No. 278, 1999, pp. 21 and 27 (PDF 3,6 MB)Emily J. Rayfield, Paul M. Barrett, Andrew R. Milner: Utility and Validity of Middle and Late Triassic 'Land Vertebrate Faunachrons'. In: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Vol. 29, 2009, No. 1, pp. 80–87, doi:10.1671/039.029.0132.
