First dinosaur tracks from the Açu Formation, Potiguar Basin (mid-Cretaceous of Brazil).

GIUSEPPE LEONARDI,MARIA DE FÁTIMA C.F. DOS SANTOS,FERNANDO HENRIQUE DE S. BARBOSA

doi:10.1590/0001-3765202120210635

GIUSEPPE LEONARDI, MARIA DE FÁTIMA C.F. DOS SANTOS + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/0001-3765202120210635

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Abstract

We record a new ichnosite bearing dinosaur tracks from the mid-Cretaceous (Aptian? -Cenomanian) of Brazil. The Fazenda dos Pingos ichnosite is situated within a sandstone pavement of the Açu Formation (Açu 3 unit) from the Potiguar Basin in the State of Rio Grande do Norte. This is a small ichnofauna, with only a few individual isolated tracks. One specimen is unequivocally attributed to a large sauropod and another to an ornithopod. Two other specimens represent poorly preserved tracks assigned to sauropods. This is the first record of dinosaur tracks from the Potiguar Basin and from the Rio Grande do Norte State.

Highlights

Dinosaur trackways are quite common in the Rio do Peixe Basin in the western Paraíba State (Leonardi 1979, 1987a, 1994, Carvalho 2000 a, b, Leonardi & Santos 2006, Leonardi & Carvalho 2002, 2021) and in a number of basins of the south of Ceará (Carvalho et al 1993 a, b, Leonardi & Spezzamonte 1994, Leonardi & Muniz 1995, Carvalho et al 2020) (Figure 1a)
They had not been recorded in the adjacent State of Rio Grande do Norte, in the Cretaceous rocks of the Potiguar Basin, up to now
A lot of dinosaur bones and fish scales were found at the western end of that basin, in Ceará State (Santos et al 2005, Veiga et al 2019, Pereira et al 2020a, b), but no tracks till (Figure 1b)

Summary

Introduction

Dinosaur trackways are quite common in the Rio do Peixe Basin in the western Paraíba State (Leonardi 1979, 1987a, 1994, Carvalho 2000 a, b, Leonardi & Santos 2006, Leonardi & Carvalho 2002, 2021) and in a number of basins of the south of Ceará (Carvalho et al 1993 a, b, Leonardi & Spezzamonte 1994, Leonardi & Muniz 1995, Carvalho et al 2020) (Figure 1a). They had not been recorded in the adjacent State of Rio Grande do Norte, in the Cretaceous rocks of the Potiguar Basin, up to now. The purpose of this paper is record and illustrate this material

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