Enigmatic tracks of solitary sauropods roaming an extensive lacustrine megatracksite in Iberia
Torcida Fernández-Baldor, Fidel (Museo de Dinosaurios de Salas de los Infantes and Colectivo Arqueológico y Paleontológico de Salas)
Díaz-Martínez, Ignacio (Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología)
Huerta, Pedro​ (Universidad de Salamanca. Escuela Politécnica Superior de Ávila)
Montero Huerta, Diego ​ (Museo de Dinosaurios de Salas de los Infantes and Colectivo Arqueológico y Paleontológico de Salas)
Castanera, Diego (Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont)

Date:	2021
Abstract:	Sauropod remains are abundant on the Iberian Peninsula across the Jurassic-Cretaceous transition. Where the osteological record shows a high diversity of this kind of dinosaur, the ichnological findings are mainly limited to sauropod tracks characterized by kidney-shaped manus (with or without pollex impressions) and pes impressions with three claw imprints oriented laterally. Here, we present a new sauropod ichnotaxon, Iniestapodus burgensis, found at several exposures within the Las Sereas megatracksite (Burgos, Spain). These are preserved within lacustrine limestone strata of the Rupelo Formation (Tithonian-Berriasian). Iniestapodus burgensis is characterized by: semicircular manus tracks with small pollex impressions; unusual tetradactyl pes tracks with evidence of four claws oriented anteriorly (I-II) and laterally (III-IV), of variable sizes (short claw I and IV impressions, claw II and III being the largest). The combination of features and comparison with the osteological record allows us to propose a non-titanosaurian titanosauriform as a possible trackmaker. All the Iniestapodus tracks are represented by at least two different size classes of small and medium-sized individuals, and their trackways show different multidirectional orientations. The paleoenvironmental and paleoecological data suggest that Iniestapodus trackmakers were solitary individuals, likely representing different age classes, that crossed and used the Las Sereas shallow lacustrine-palustrine areas as their preferred habitat.
Grants:	Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca BP2017-00195 Agencia Estatal de Investigación CGL2017-85038-P Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación PGC2018-094566-B-C2
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Evolution ; Geology ; Limnology ; Palaeontology ; Sedimentology ; Stratigraphy
Published in:	Scientific reports, Vol. 11 (August 2021) art. 16939, ISSN 2045-2322

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-95675-3
PMID: 34417474

17 p, 4.0 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles