Showing posts with label ornithopod track. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ornithopod track. Show all posts

Thursday, 6 October 2016

A question: Are these theropod or ornithopod tracks?

I am still not sure if these EK tracks from the mega track site are theropod or ornithopod tracks?


I am inclined towards the theropod ones. Judging from the shape and size of their footprints theropods were the most diverse dinosaurs at the site.



A reminder for my book:

 Wealden Pond



Tuesday, 27 May 2014

A poorly preserved ornithopod track


Here is another example of a "questionable" dinosaur track from Pula. According to my scale I would grade it as a poorly preserved track (***). It is not easy to spot on these weathered rocks, although it is a convex, or relief track. The natural cast. It is slightly darker colour and there are more similar prints there. In its overall shape it does remind of an ornithopod, iguanodontoid footprint of the Hadrosauropodus type, but due to the state of its preservation it may still be a theropod.
See the b/w outline of Hadrosauropodus langstoni  - Lockley et al. (2003) track at the bottom.
My interpretation is the red outline over the print in the second image.




Some of the Cretaceous hadrosaur tracks are well described in a paper. HADROSAUR FOOTPRINTS FROM THE UPPER CRETACEOUS FRUITLAND FORMATION, SAN JUAN BASIN, NEW MEXICO, AND THE ICHNOTAXONOMY OF LARGE ORNITHOPOD FOOTPRINTS SPENCER G. LUCAS1, ROBERT M. SULLIVAN2, STEVEN E. JASINSKI2 AND TRACY L. FORD

"A reconsideration of the ichnotaxonomy of large ornithopod footprints suggests that only two
ichnogenera may be valid: Caririchnium (= Hadrosauropodus) and Amblydactylus (= Iguanodontipus)."