First report of lacertiform (lizard) tracks from the Cretaceous of Asia |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Geology and Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur 721302, India;2. Geological Studies Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, 203 B. T. Road, Kolkata 700108, India;1. Dinosaur Trackers Research Group, University of Colorado at Denver, CO 80217, United States;2. Peace Region Palaeontology Research Centre, P.O. Box 1540, Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia V0C 2W0, Canada;3. Museum of Moab, 118 East Center St., Moab, UT 84532, United States;4. Utah Geological Survey, P.O. Box 146100, Salt Lake City, UT 84114, United States;1. Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, Daejeon, South Korea;2. Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea;3. Witte Museum, San Antonio, TX, USA;4. University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada;5. Hokkaido University Museum, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan;6. Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA |
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| Abstract: | The well-preserved trackway of a lacertiform, lizard-like trackmaker from the Haman Formation (Cretaceous) of Korea is described as Neosauroides koreaensis ichnogen. et ichnosp. nov. This is the only example of a Cretaceous lacertiform or lizard-like trackway currently known in the global track record. Although lacertiform trackways, mostly assigned to the ichnogenus Rhynchosauroides, are common in the global Triassic, they are almost entirely absent in the Jurassic and Cretaceous. Moreover, ichnological classification criteria allow that Neosauroides is morphologically distinct from Rhynchosauroides at the genus level, and more like the tracks of the extant lizard Sceloporus. The reasons for the conspicuous lack of post-Triassic occurrences are not certain, but not due to a post-Triassic lack of potential lizard trackmakers. Thus, the preservation biases are likely due to paleobiological factors such as trackmaker ecology and paleoenvironmental preference. |
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| Keywords: | Cretaceous Korea Lizard Footprints |
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