Liaoningotitan redescribed + dinosaur footprints from Lower Jurassic of Australia (free pdfs)

[Ben Creisler]

Ben Creisler

bcre...@gmail.com

New papers:

Free pdf:

Bingqing Shan (2025)
The re-description of Liaoningotitan sinensis Zhou et al., 2018
PeerJ 13: e19154
doi: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.19154
https://peerj.com/articles/19154/
 

Liaoningotitan sinensis is one of three sauropod species found in the Jehol Biota. Liaoningotitan sinensis is from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation in Liaoning, China. The discovery of Liaoningotitan sinensis was an important breakthrough for researching the diversity of giant herbivorous animals in the Jehol Biota. However, the research and analysis of Liaoningotitan sinensis are not yet complete. This study presents a comprehensive research and analysis of Liaoningotitan sinensis holotype. First, the skull, vertebrae, pelvic girdle, and appendicular elements of Liaoningotitan sinensis holotype were carefully reexamined, leading to the discovery of mosaic evolution occurring in the skull and the identification of one new autapomorphy of humerus of Liaoningotitan sinensis: the attachment point of coracobrachialis muscle on the anterior surface of the proximal end of the humerus is flat. Second, the characteristics of the Liaoningotitan sinensis holotype and other well-preserved sauropod dinosaurs were used to reconstruct the skull of Liaoningotitan sinensis. Next, Euhelopus zdanskyi was used to reconstruct the body type of Liaoningotitan sinensis holotype, the result indicating that Liaoningotitan sinensis was approximately 10 m in length. Finally, TNT software was utilized to analyze the phylogenetic position of Liaoningotitan sinensis, with the result indicating that Liaoningotitan sinensis can be classified into the Euhelopodidae.

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Free pdf:

Anthony Romilio, Ron Park, Wes Nichols & Owen Jackson (2025)
Dinosaur footprints from the Lower Jurassic (Hettangian–Sinemurian) Precipice Sandstone of the Callide Basin, Queensland, Australia
Historical Biology (advance online publication)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2025.2472153
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2025.2472153

Free pdf:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/08912963.2025.2472153



Dinosaur footprints have been reported from the Lower Jurassic (Hettangian – Sinemurian) Precipice Sandstone of the Callide Basin, Queensland, for over three decades, yet only a single track has been described until now. This study reports additional tracks on three ex-situ surfaces not previously described. These pedal impressions are assignable to the ichnospecies Anomoepus scambus, attributed to ornithischian dinosaurs. One surface contains a single print, a second a trackway with two tracks, and the third features at least 13 trackways and numerous isolated prints representing one of the most densely concentrated dinosaur track surfaces in Australia. Dinosaur trackmakers were estimated, with hip heights ranging20–76 cm and exhibiting walking gaits with speeds of 2.15–5.78 km/hr. Small, infilled circular traces, possibly invertebrate burrows of the ichnogenus Skolithos are abundant on the surfaces that, if correct, indicate the tracks were formed in subaqueous, moderate-to-high energy conditions. With no dinosaurian osteological record from Australia’s Early Jurassic, these footprints provide valuable evidence for the presence, abundance, and behaviour of ornithischian dinosaurs in the region.Shan B. 2025. The re-description of Liaoningotitan sinensis Zhou et al., 2018.

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