Sauropod tibia with fracture from Middle Jurassic of China + dinosaur tracksite from Cretaceous of Araripe Basin, Brazil

[Ben Creisler]

Ben Creisler

bcre...@gmail.com

Recent papers:

Chao Tan, Ping Wang, Can Xiong, Zhao-Ying Wei, Yan Tu, Qing-Yu Ma, Xin-Xin Ren & Hai-Lu You (2024)
A sauropod tibia with initial fracture from the Middle Jurassic in Yunyang, Chongqing, southwest China
HIstorical Biology (advance online publication)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2024.2403598
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2024.2403598



Among the available palaeopathological results on non-avian dinosaurs, the fracture is the most documented category. Therein, only two sauropod fractured cases have been reported, and no sauropod tibial fracture has been mentioned. In this study, we report a special sauropod tibial fracture from the Middle Jurassic of Yunyang County, Chongqing, southwest China. The morphological observation shows a planar-shaped sauropod tibial fracture, with a rough surface without fracture callus, and does not exhibit other healing manifestations such as swelling. The CT images and energy spectrum data clearly demonstrate the injured cortical bone invaginated into the medullary cavity. Moreover, these data indicate that the tibia fracture is initial, the first valid record of initial fracture in non-avian dinosaurs. This study enhances our knowledge of sauropod limb bone fractures and enriches the pathological information about dinosaur fractures.

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Free pdf:

Ismar de Souza Carvalho, Jaime Joaquim Dias, Daniel Souza da Silva, Leonardo Borghi, José Artur Ferreira Gomes de Andrade, Maria Somália Sales Viana, Mário Ferreira Lima Filho, Renata da Silva Schmitt, Aristóteles de Moraes Rios Netto, Silvério Domingues Figueiredo, and Giuseppe Leonardi (2024)
A new dinosaur tracksite from the Araripe Basin (Brazil) and the putative early Paleozoic age for the Mauriti Formation
In: Louis H.Taylor, Robert G. Raynolds, and Spencer G. Lucas, eds., 2024, Vertebrate Paleoichnology: A Tribute to Martin Lockley. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 95: 97-102

Free pdf:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/384070675_A_NEW_DINOSAUR_TRACKSITE_FROM_THE_ARARIPE_BASIN_BRAZIL_AND_THE_PUTATIVE_EARLY_PALEOZOIC_AGE_FOR_THE_MAURITI_FORMATION


Footprints in the Araripe Basin (Northeastern Brazil) are previously known in the Mauriti Formation only from the Milagres ichnosite (Milagres County, Ceará State) on coarse-to fine-grained sandstones. Since this lithostratigraphic unit is considered and mapped as Silurian-Devonian (despite the fact that no macro-or microfossils established its age) the presence of such footprints shows a temporal inconsistency. The dinosaur footprints found in a new ichnosite (Mauriti County, Ceará State) reinforce the Mesozoic age for the Mauriti Formation, and due to the proximity of the nearby Rio do Peixe basins and to the similarity of their dinosaur footprints, a particularly Early Cretaceous age is suggested. This new ichnosite, herein named as Mauriti ichnosite, presents seven isolated footprints. There are four tridactyl, mesaxonic isolated footprints with pointed (?theropod) and rounded digits (?ornithopod). The other imprints are rounded depressions with no clear digit impressions, surrounded by displacement rims or presenting fluidization features of indeterminate trackmakers. The partial sandstone filling of the footprints is similar to the surrounding matrix. They range from 30-48 cm in length and 25-48 cm in width. The paleoenvironmental interpretation of the dinoturbation strata is fluvial braided. The trackmakers are small and large bipeds, despite some pointed digits induce to consider them as theropods related to those already known in the Araripe Basin's Cretaceous formations. This new tracksite confirms the need to revise the age of the Mauriti Formation and the involved paleogeography, establishing a new stratigraphic framework for the lower successions of the Araripe Basin.

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