Sauropodomorph(?) tracks from Late Triassic of Iran + Late Cretaceous dinosaur-bearing locality from Bulgaria
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Ben Creisler
Jul 29, 2025, 2:02:28 PM7/29/25
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Ben Creisler
Nasrollah Abbassi, Arash Gharehbaghi & Saeed Maleki (2025)
New record of Late Triassic dinosaur tracks from the Shemshak Group of Alborz Mountains, Firuzkuh area, North Iran
Historical Biology (advance online publication)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2025.2537165
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2025.2537165
A new dinosaur track site from the Late Triassic (Norian) Shahmirzad Formation, the basal unit of the Shemshak Group, has been discovered in the southern Alborz Mountains of northern Iran. The footprints are poorly preserved, appearing as circular to irregular concave epireliefs. Sixteen footprints and probably four trackways have been identified, with one well-preserved footprint showing both pes and manus imprints. The pes imprint is small and displays four-digit imprints, with three outwardly inclined claw imprints in digits II, III and IV. The small manus imprint is oval in shape, with indistinct digit imprints. Due to the poor preservation and incomplete trackways, attributing of these footprints to a specific ichnotaxon, comes with a challenge, and here they are reported as cf. Eosauropus, based on relatively well preserved of one of the pes and manus imprints, which was made by sauropodomorphs or basal sauropod. Based on the hip height formula for sauropods, the estimated hip height for the sauropods that made the studied footprints is approximately 130 cm. The presence of sauropod footprints in both the lowermost and uppermost units of the Shemshak Group suggests their persistence throughout the group’s deposition in the Alborz Mountains. The footprint layer, along with the underlying and overlying layers, was analysed for palynological investigation. Palynofacies data indicate that the sediments were deposited in a proximal environment.
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Vladimir Nikolov, Polina Pavlishina, Docho Dochev & Stephen L. Brusatte (2025)
The paleoecology and taphonomy of a Santonian-Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) dinosaur-bearing vertebrate locality from Bulgaria: a window into an underexplored part of the Late Cretaceous European Archipelago
Swiss Journal of Palaeontology 144: 41
doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13358-025-00388-z
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13358-025-00388-z
The Upper Cretaceous European vertebrate fossil record has improved significantly in the past three decades but there still remain chronostratigraphic and geographic gaps, which obscure our understanding of the paleobiogeography and evolution within the insular environments of the Late Cretaceous European Archipelago. Recently, a new vertebrate locality of late Santonian–early Campanian age was discovered in westernmost Bulgaria, promising to fill some of these gaps. Here, we use a multidisciplinary approach involving palynology, paleontology and paleohistology to investigate aspects of the paleoecology and taphonomy of this new locality and to provide preliminary information on its taxonomic contents. Palynomorph data shows that the flora was dominated by angiosperms of the Normapolles group with subordinate presence of ferns and only rare gymnosperms. The association of the pollen taxa Krutzschipollis crassus and K. spatiosus supports latest Santonian to early Campanian age for the vertebrate-bearing strata. The floral composition and especially a number of fern spore humidity indicators imply the existence of a generally humid subtropical climate, with some seasonal droughts. Using palynofacies analysis, we infer a coastal, proximal shelf to oxidated deltaic or lagoonal depositional environment for the examined sedimentary succession. The locality has so far yielded 250 vertebrate specimens collected from eight strata. There are at least seven clades present, including lamniform sharks, lepisosteid gars, amphibians, turtles, crocodylomorphs, ornithopod and titanosaur dinosaurs, and possibly pterosaurs. Semi-aquatic and aquatic animals dominate the assemblage. Most common are turtles (about 30% of the sample), followed by dinosaurs. Skeletal elements are disarticulated, isolated and mostly fragmentary. Fossils are not sorted by size. Many of the fossil bones show signs of abrasion and bioerosion, both micro- and macroscopically. Paleohistological data reveal that all sampled dinosaur bones belong to subadult or adult individuals. We interpret the site to be an attritional assemblage. Taxonomic comparisons with other well-known Santonian to Maastrichtian fossil assemblages from Central (Hungary and Austria) and Eastern Europe (Romania and Serbia) indicate similarities with both the Santonian Iharkút-Ajka vertebrate fauna of Hungary and the younger Haţeg Island fauna of Romania, although additional material and more precise taxonomic identification of the Bulgarian fossils is needed. Our work presents the first more in-depth look at life on land in this currently underexplored part of the Late Cretaceous European Archipelago.
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New papers:
====
Nasrollah Abbassi, Arash Gharehbaghi & Saeed Maleki (2025)
New record of Late Triassic dinosaur tracks from the Shemshak Group of Alborz Mountains, Firuzkuh area, North Iran
Historical Biology (advance online publication)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2025.2537165
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2025.2537165
A new dinosaur track site from the Late Triassic (Norian) Shahmirzad Formation, the basal unit of the Shemshak Group, has been discovered in the southern Alborz Mountains of northern Iran. The footprints are poorly preserved, appearing as circular to irregular concave epireliefs. Sixteen footprints and probably four trackways have been identified, with one well-preserved footprint showing both pes and manus imprints. The pes imprint is small and displays four-digit imprints, with three outwardly inclined claw imprints in digits II, III and IV. The small manus imprint is oval in shape, with indistinct digit imprints. Due to the poor preservation and incomplete trackways, attributing of these footprints to a specific ichnotaxon, comes with a challenge, and here they are reported as cf. Eosauropus, based on relatively well preserved of one of the pes and manus imprints, which was made by sauropodomorphs or basal sauropod. Based on the hip height formula for sauropods, the estimated hip height for the sauropods that made the studied footprints is approximately 130 cm. The presence of sauropod footprints in both the lowermost and uppermost units of the Shemshak Group suggests their persistence throughout the group’s deposition in the Alborz Mountains. The footprint layer, along with the underlying and overlying layers, was analysed for palynological investigation. Palynofacies data indicate that the sediments were deposited in a proximal environment.
===
Free pdf:
Vladimir Nikolov, Polina Pavlishina, Docho Dochev & Stephen L. Brusatte (2025)
The paleoecology and taphonomy of a Santonian-Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) dinosaur-bearing vertebrate locality from Bulgaria: a window into an underexplored part of the Late Cretaceous European Archipelago
Swiss Journal of Palaeontology 144: 41
doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13358-025-00388-z
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13358-025-00388-z
The Upper Cretaceous European vertebrate fossil record has improved significantly in the past three decades but there still remain chronostratigraphic and geographic gaps, which obscure our understanding of the paleobiogeography and evolution within the insular environments of the Late Cretaceous European Archipelago. Recently, a new vertebrate locality of late Santonian–early Campanian age was discovered in westernmost Bulgaria, promising to fill some of these gaps. Here, we use a multidisciplinary approach involving palynology, paleontology and paleohistology to investigate aspects of the paleoecology and taphonomy of this new locality and to provide preliminary information on its taxonomic contents. Palynomorph data shows that the flora was dominated by angiosperms of the Normapolles group with subordinate presence of ferns and only rare gymnosperms. The association of the pollen taxa Krutzschipollis crassus and K. spatiosus supports latest Santonian to early Campanian age for the vertebrate-bearing strata. The floral composition and especially a number of fern spore humidity indicators imply the existence of a generally humid subtropical climate, with some seasonal droughts. Using palynofacies analysis, we infer a coastal, proximal shelf to oxidated deltaic or lagoonal depositional environment for the examined sedimentary succession. The locality has so far yielded 250 vertebrate specimens collected from eight strata. There are at least seven clades present, including lamniform sharks, lepisosteid gars, amphibians, turtles, crocodylomorphs, ornithopod and titanosaur dinosaurs, and possibly pterosaurs. Semi-aquatic and aquatic animals dominate the assemblage. Most common are turtles (about 30% of the sample), followed by dinosaurs. Skeletal elements are disarticulated, isolated and mostly fragmentary. Fossils are not sorted by size. Many of the fossil bones show signs of abrasion and bioerosion, both micro- and macroscopically. Paleohistological data reveal that all sampled dinosaur bones belong to subadult or adult individuals. We interpret the site to be an attritional assemblage. Taxonomic comparisons with other well-known Santonian to Maastrichtian fossil assemblages from Central (Hungary and Austria) and Eastern Europe (Romania and Serbia) indicate similarities with both the Santonian Iharkút-Ajka vertebrate fauna of Hungary and the younger Haţeg Island fauna of Romania, although additional material and more precise taxonomic identification of the Bulgarian fossils is needed. Our work presents the first more in-depth look at life on land in this currently underexplored part of the Late Cretaceous European Archipelago.
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Gregory Paul
Jul 31, 2025, 4:55:33 PM7/31/25
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Does the tyrannosaur Jane have a complete femur, and if so from which side?
GSPaul
Franco Sancarlo
Jul 31, 2025, 6:49:40 PM7/31/25
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Larson in Tyrannosaurid Paleobiology published a side photo of the mounted fossil of jane
I don't know if the fossil are the real one or not. But problably this answer the question
I don't know if the fossil are the real one or not. But problably this answer the question
Il Gio 31 Lug 2025, 22:55 'Gregory Paul' via Dinosaur Mailing Group <DinosaurMa...@googlegroups.com> ha scritto:
Does the tyrannosaur Jane have a complete femur, and if so from which side?GSPaul
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Gregory Paul
Jul 31, 2025, 6:59:32 PM7/31/25
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Much of the skeleton is restored, including probably that femur
Thomas Richard Holtz
Jul 31, 2025, 7:40:01 PM7/31/25
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Partial right is known; left is reconstructed
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Email: tho...@umd.edu Phone: 301-405-4084
Principal Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Office: CHEM 1225B, 8051 Regents Dr., College Park MD 20742
Dept. of Geology, University of Maryland
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Kaelin Reichmann
Aug 1, 2025, 9:25:26 AM8/1/25
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Here’s the reconstruction that claims the original right femur is present in Jane, but it doesn’t look like he represented which bones were incomplete so that’s still unclear. Hope this somewhat helps!
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