Dinosaur ichnofauna from Early Jurassic of Guizhou, China, with didactyl swimming tracks
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Ben Creisler
Nov 22, 2025, 11:20:41 AM (7 days ago) Nov 22
to DinosaurMa...@googlegroups.com
Ben Creisler
A new paper:
Lida Xing, Qiyan Chen, Hendrik Klein, W. Scott Persons IV, Donghao Wang & Qi Qi (2025)
Lower Jurassic didactyl tracks and the related dinosaur ichnofauna of Guizhou, southwestern China
Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 106874
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2025.106874
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S136791202500389X
Highlights
Report new dinosaur-related tracksites from Early Jurassic of Guizhou, SW China.
A diverse of sauropodomorphs, ornithischian and theropod footprints assemblage.
The didactyl tracks are interpreted as by swimming behavior of the track makers.
Abstract
The Sichuan-Yunnan Basin in southwestern China represents a region of global significance for Early- to Mid-Jurassic tetrapod fossils. The area is home to a renowned assemblage of saurischian body fossils in the Lufeng and Shaximiao formations, and also has rich track records that, compared with the former, are broader in spatial and chronological scope. Of these, the upper Lower Jurassic Ma’anshan Member of the Ziliujing Formation contains the most abundant and diverse track records in Guizhou Province. This paper presents the discovery of dinosaur tracks from the Wucha sites, including those belonging to cf. Parabrontopodus, cf. Liujianpus, Anomoepus isp., and Grallator. Unusual are didactyl tracks, which exhibit some affinities to Cretaceous deinonychosaurians, based solely on their morphology. But detailed analysis suggests that they are possible punting or running traces produced by non-didactyl trackmakers. Furthermore, the stratigraphic age of the Wucha didactyl tracks is much older if compared to the lower temporal range of Deinonychosauria.
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Lida Xing, Qiyan Chen, Hendrik Klein, W. Scott Persons IV, Donghao Wang & Qi Qi (2025)
Lower Jurassic didactyl tracks and the related dinosaur ichnofauna of Guizhou, southwestern China
Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 106874
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2025.106874
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S136791202500389X
Highlights
Report new dinosaur-related tracksites from Early Jurassic of Guizhou, SW China.
A diverse of sauropodomorphs, ornithischian and theropod footprints assemblage.
The didactyl tracks are interpreted as by swimming behavior of the track makers.
Abstract
The Sichuan-Yunnan Basin in southwestern China represents a region of global significance for Early- to Mid-Jurassic tetrapod fossils. The area is home to a renowned assemblage of saurischian body fossils in the Lufeng and Shaximiao formations, and also has rich track records that, compared with the former, are broader in spatial and chronological scope. Of these, the upper Lower Jurassic Ma’anshan Member of the Ziliujing Formation contains the most abundant and diverse track records in Guizhou Province. This paper presents the discovery of dinosaur tracks from the Wucha sites, including those belonging to cf. Parabrontopodus, cf. Liujianpus, Anomoepus isp., and Grallator. Unusual are didactyl tracks, which exhibit some affinities to Cretaceous deinonychosaurians, based solely on their morphology. But detailed analysis suggests that they are possible punting or running traces produced by non-didactyl trackmakers. Furthermore, the stratigraphic age of the Wucha didactyl tracks is much older if compared to the lower temporal range of Deinonychosauria.
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