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An unusual theropod track assemblage from the Cretaceous of the Zhucheng area, Shandong Province, China |
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| Authors: | Rihui Li Masaki MatsukawaMingwei Liu |
| Institution: | a Qingdao Institute of Marine Geology, China Geological Survey, Qingdao 266071, PR China b Dinosaur Tracks Museum, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado 80217, USA c Department of Environmental Sciences, Tokyo Gakugei University, Koganei, Tokyo 184-8501, Japan d Zhucheng Municipal Bureau of Tourism, Zhucheng 262200, Shandong, PR China e Fourth Geological and Mineral Resources Survey of Shandong, Wei-fang 261021, PR China |
| Abstract: | More than 125 footprints of theropods from the Cretaceous Longwangzhuang Formation have been mapped in a preliminary study at a site in the Zhucheng region of China. The tracks represent at least three morphotypes. The largest morphotype is a large theropod (footprint length ∼30 cm) represented by a single trackway and an isolated natural cast. At least 10 trackways assigned to the new ichnospecies Corpulentapus lilasia represent a medium-sized biped (footprint length ∼13 cm) with very short, wide, robust, ‘tulip-shaped’ tracks and long steps (∼5 × footprint length), and a short central digit (III) indicating weak mesaxony. Corpulentapus trackways are narrow and theropod-like even though track morphology is convergent with the footprints of some ornithopods. The third morphotype, made by a medium-sized grallatorid track maker (ichnogenus Paragrallator), is about the same size (∼13 cm) as the robust morphotype, but far more elongate and gracile, with an elongate central digit (III) indicating strong mesaxony. This ichnotaxon requires detailed comparison with Grallator sensu stricto. The contrast in morphology between the two common morphotypes is striking and demonstrates that two distinct medium-sized taxa of presumed theropod affinity frequented the same habitat in significant numbers. |
| Keywords: | Theropods Footprints Cretaceous Zhucheng Shandong China |
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