Main Brijun island tracks

Otok Veli Brijun (Brion) 2012. Mjerim veličinu otiska stopala velikog teropoda, koji je ostavio svoj oblik stopala (left pes) uključujući i metatarzalni dio, što je dosta rijetko.Iscrtao sam oblik crvenom linijom da se bolje vidi forma.  Otisak vrha srednjeg prsta (#3) nedostaje.

Finding new tracks on the Main Brijun island

Although, the tracksites on the Main Brijun island have been described in the papers (the Pogledalo promontory site at least three times), I keep finding the new footprints there each time I visit it. There are two reasons why I manage doing that: the first is that some of the tracks are being constantly covered and uncovered by the beach pebbles, when the waves move them and the other is that some of the tracks are literally invisible until some particular kind of sun light reveals them.
Here is one of the large theropod foot impressions that is somewhat deformed. The red outline is my interpretation. The theropod's footprint is about 42 cm long.
This is an Early Cretaceous (Barremian). About 125 million years ago.

Several smaller theropod footprints from the same site in  various states of preservation. I have interpreted some of them with the red outline.

A quiz question: Who left this track?(2)

Guess the tetrapod from the track!
 ... and the answer is: a large iguanodontoid
 

 In the image above:
1) Iguanodontian track from the Main Brijun island. Probably left pes footprint. Note my feet size #46 at the bottom of the photograph.
2) A close up of the hoof (ungual) #3. Note the similarities of the print (cast) with the Romanian true ungual fossils (Fig.4). Note that the base, or the distal part of the ungual also left an impression. In fact, I have discovered that a rather well defined toe impression of an iguanodontoid track maker often preserves and thus could be considered a diagnostic feature.
3) My interpretation of the footprint - red outline.
4) Iguanodontian ungual #3 from Romania, Early Cretaceous (left-bottom; right-top of the hoof), from this paper:

 IGUANODONTIAN DINOSAURS FROM THE
LOWER CRETACEOUS BAUXITE SITE FROM ROMANIA
ERIKA POSMOŞANU
ACTA PALAEONTOLOGICA ROMANIAE V. 4 (2003), P. 431-439


As for the results of the Quiz. There's no winner. Nobody even tried guessing. So, am I just imagining things?

Histriasaurus: the basal rebbachisaurid from Istria

The dinosaur bone bed near Bale

There are only three dinosaur species (two genera) from Croatia, that were properly described and named. Both of the new genera holotypes were determined and named by the Italian paleontologist Fabio Marco Dalla Vecchia. While one of them is an ichnospecies, Titanosaurimanus nana (Dalla Vecchia & Tarlao, 2000), based solely on its tracks, the other one is based on the fossil bones. It was a mid-sized rebbachisaurid Histriasaurus boscarollii (Dalla Vecchia, 1998)

Rebbachisauridae was a family of sauropod dinosaurs known from fragmentary fossil remains from the Cretaceous of South America, Africa, and Europe.

 In the photo is the small museum Ulika in an old town Bale, in  Istria, Croatia, where the holotype of Histriasaurus and the rest of the Croatian dinosaur fossils are housed. The dinosaur fossil site is just a couple of kilometres away. The dinosaur undersea graveyard is still a sort of terra incognita, because there was no funding for extensive excavation and research. Matt Lamanna told me there were attempts of getting funded form the National Geographic, but so far unsuccessful. Hopefully, the research in Bale will resume, soon.

A few rebbachisaurid dorsal vertebrae comparison (not exactly to scale): the Spanish Demandasaurus darwini (Fernández-Baldor et al.), 2011 - photo ©Fidel Torcida, the fossil housed at  EL Museo de Dinosaurios de Salas de los Infantes (A), the African Rebbachisaurus garasbae (Lavocat, 1954) - photo by ©Muséum National d’Histoire Natural where the fossil is housed (B), the Croatian Histriasaurus boscarollii (Dalla Vecchia, 1998) - photo by B. Krzic (C). 

An article on new Spanish rebbachisaurid.


My old Histriasaurus boscarollii restoration (from 2003?):

It is interesting noting that the only Croatian dinosaurs with names were never given a scientific and public attention they have deserved. There was no sculptural restoration, no postal stamp, no dedicated book. One feeble attempt to mark the presence of dinosaur fossil bones in Croatia was made by issuing a postal stamp . An iguanodontoid was featured in the image.

The recent Ulika museum is the first to give them the credit. Pity that the museum is still relatively unknown, although, it has been open for public almost a year ago.

Measuring a theropod footprint

Finding the dinosaur tracks is always exciting. Especially if they are from very large animals. This theropod seems to have left the print of its true heel (the metatarsals) as well. This footprint without the metatarsals impression and with the missing tip of the toe # III (the broken off rock) taken into account, according to the shape and the relative dimensions of the other smaller prints on this site (Pogledalo promontory of the Main Brijun island, Istria, Croatia). measured about 60-65 cm in length: This translates into a theropod that was about 9-10 meters long. It is a left foot impression. The trackway is from the Early Cretaceous, Barremian age. Some 125 million years old.

The tracksite has been described in the paper free to download.

The new sensational Cretaceous bird (repost)

Although, I know that many birds and dinosaur-birds lived alongside dinosaurs some 125 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous, I always get surprised by the new discoveries. How come the ancient birds looked so advanced and modern as early as  that?
The newly described Chinese fossil bird Hongshanornis longicresta wouldn't make you turn your head if it flew by you. It seemed so common. Only a closer look, a very close look, would reveal that it had tiny teeth in the front of its beak and claws on it's wings.
A couple of years ago I was engaged in a project of producing and mounting a theropod  sculpture on the famous and rich Barremian track site on the Main Brijun island in Croatia. The tracks are roughly of the same age as the Chinese Jehol bird fossil. There are theropod tracks of various sizes at the site. The largest footprints measure about 60-65 cm in length. I have also noticed a large crock footprint, iguanodontoid tracks and possibly a pterosaur footprint there.

The sculpture at the Main Brijun Barremian tracksite by the the team of artists: sculptors Stjepan Gracan and Bozica Dea Matasic; painting and mounting by painter Zlatko Kauzlaric Atac; cconsulting and preliminary drawings by Berislav Krzic. It took almost 3 years for the sculpture to be produced and mounted at the track site in 2012: 

More photographs of the M. Brijun theropod sculpture 

My preliminary drawing of Eocarcharia (meaning "dawn shark") a  carcharodontosaurid theropod
dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous as a possible track maker and a reference for the sculptor (2006).

A couple of theropod footprints at the  Veli (Main) Brijun Barremian site (125 mya) (photo credit: Berislav Krzic):

Here is my restoration of the ancient bird Hongshanornis longicresta:

 You can read more about the bird's find here:
National Geographic
... or if you are interested more, here is the free scientific paper:
 A new specimen of the Early Cretaceous bird Hongshanornis longicresta: insights into the aerodynamics and diet of a basal ornithuromorph