Dinosaur tracks from Upper Cretaceous of Hubei Province, China + earliest Triassic marine reptiles
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Ben Creisler
Apr 22, 2026, 2:48:03 PM (4 days ago) Apr 22
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Ben Creisler
Recent papers:
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Free pdf:
Noura Lkebir, Xiongwei Zeng, Long Cheng and Zhijun Niu (2026)
New Dinosaur Tracks from the Upper Cretaceous of Xiakou Village (Nanzhang County) and Jiuxian Town (Yuan’an County), Hubei Province, China
Geosciences 16(4): 164
doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences16040164
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/16/4/164
This study fills a knowledge gap in the distribution of the Upper Cretaceous dinosaur tracks in central China by examining two newly discovered tracksites near Xiakou village (Nanzhang County) and Jiuxian town (Yuan’an County), Hubei Province. Eleven Isolated tracks were analyzed to identify the ichnofauna assemblage. Morphometric analysis indicates the presence of tridactyl and rounded morphologies. The tridactyl tracks are consistent with a small-sized theropod and ornithischian ichnofauna, whereas the rounded shape remains ichnotaxonomically indeterminate. These tracks are the first reported dinosaur ichnite from central China at this age. Despite limited preservation, this research highlights how extromorphological factors influence track morphology, a key issue in ichnological studies. Overall, it contributes new data on the presence of dinosaur ichnofauna in China during the late Mesozoic.
Free pdf:
Noura Lkebir, Xiongwei Zeng, Long Cheng and Zhijun Niu (2026)
New Dinosaur Tracks from the Upper Cretaceous of Xiakou Village (Nanzhang County) and Jiuxian Town (Yuan’an County), Hubei Province, China
Geosciences 16(4): 164
doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences16040164
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/16/4/164
This study fills a knowledge gap in the distribution of the Upper Cretaceous dinosaur tracks in central China by examining two newly discovered tracksites near Xiakou village (Nanzhang County) and Jiuxian town (Yuan’an County), Hubei Province. Eleven Isolated tracks were analyzed to identify the ichnofauna assemblage. Morphometric analysis indicates the presence of tridactyl and rounded morphologies. The tridactyl tracks are consistent with a small-sized theropod and ornithischian ichnofauna, whereas the rounded shape remains ichnotaxonomically indeterminate. These tracks are the first reported dinosaur ichnite from central China at this age. Despite limited preservation, this research highlights how extromorphological factors influence track morphology, a key issue in ichnological studies. Overall, it contributes new data on the presence of dinosaur ichnofauna in China during the late Mesozoic.
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Benjamin P. Kear, Øyvind Hammer, Maciej Ruciński, Aubrey J. Roberts, Ulysses S. Ninnemann & Jørn H. Hurum (2026)
Age constraints confirm antiquity of the earliest Triassic oceanic reptile fossils
Geology (advance online publication)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G54410.1
https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article-abstract/doi/10.1130/G54410.1/728893/Age-constraints-confirm-antiquity-of-the-earliest
The geologically oldest sea-going reptile fossils occur in Lower Triassic (Smithian, ca. 250 Ma) strata of the Lusitaniadalen Member ([LM], Vikinghøgda Formation) on the Norwegian Arctic island of Spitsbergen. Yet some recent studies have dismissed this biostratigraphically and chemostratigraphically demonstrated record with a counterclaim that fully pelagic reptiles must have originated up to ∼1 m.y. later (mid-Spathian, ca. 248.7 ± 1.0 Ma) because of radiometric dating on a deposit in China. Here, we resolve this contention using a comprehensive suite of stratigraphic, isotopic, elemental, and petrographic analyses that unanimously age-correlate the LM marine reptile fossils with the middle-to-upper Smithian Euflemingites romunduri−Wasatchites tardus ammonoid zones. These underlie a stratigraphic hiatus preceding the Smithian−Spathian boundary (ca. 249.236 Ma). The LM fossil-bearing layers do not extend down-sequence beyond the Dienerian−Smithian boundary (ca. 250.626 Ma). Thus, the oldest-known oceanic reptile remains are unambiguously constrained at ca. 1.24−2.63 Ma after the cataclysmic end-Permian mass extinction (ca. 251.867 Ma).
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Age constraints confirm antiquity of the earliest Triassic oceanic reptile fossils
Geology (advance online publication)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G54410.1
https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article-abstract/doi/10.1130/G54410.1/728893/Age-constraints-confirm-antiquity-of-the-earliest
The geologically oldest sea-going reptile fossils occur in Lower Triassic (Smithian, ca. 250 Ma) strata of the Lusitaniadalen Member ([LM], Vikinghøgda Formation) on the Norwegian Arctic island of Spitsbergen. Yet some recent studies have dismissed this biostratigraphically and chemostratigraphically demonstrated record with a counterclaim that fully pelagic reptiles must have originated up to ∼1 m.y. later (mid-Spathian, ca. 248.7 ± 1.0 Ma) because of radiometric dating on a deposit in China. Here, we resolve this contention using a comprehensive suite of stratigraphic, isotopic, elemental, and petrographic analyses that unanimously age-correlate the LM marine reptile fossils with the middle-to-upper Smithian Euflemingites romunduri−Wasatchites tardus ammonoid zones. These underlie a stratigraphic hiatus preceding the Smithian−Spathian boundary (ca. 249.236 Ma). The LM fossil-bearing layers do not extend down-sequence beyond the Dienerian−Smithian boundary (ca. 250.626 Ma). Thus, the oldest-known oceanic reptile remains are unambiguously constrained at ca. 1.24−2.63 Ma after the cataclysmic end-Permian mass extinction (ca. 251.867 Ma).
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