Abstract
New reports of dinosaur tracksites in the Tuchengzi Formation in the newly established Yanqing Global Geopark, Beijing, China, support previous inferences that the track assemblages from this formation are saurischian-dominated. More specifically, the assemblages appear theropod-dominated, with the majority of well-preserved tracks conforming to the Grallator type (sensus lato), thus representing relatively small trackmakers. Such ichnofaunas supplement the skeletal record from this unit that lacks theropods thus far, proving a larger diversity of dinosaur faunas in that region. Sauropods are represented by medium to large sized and narrow and wide-gauge groups, respectively. The latter correspond with earlier discoveries of titanosauriform skeletons in the same unit. Previous records of ornithischian tracks cannot be positively confirmed. Purported occurrences are re-evaluated here, the trackways and imprints, except of a single possible specimen, re-assigned to theropods. Palecologically the Tuchengzi ichnofauna is characteristic of semi-arid fluvio-lacustrine inland basins with Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous deposits in northern China that all show assemblages with abundant theropod and sauropod tracks and minor components of ornithopod, pterosaur and bird tracks.
Highlights
IntroductionThere is a large temporal gap between the record of the Yanliao Biota and the Jehol Biota [3]
The Middle-Upper Jurassic Yanliao Biota and the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Biota in northeastern China have been the subject of intense palaeontology research for over a decade due to PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0122715 April 22, 2015Dinosaur Footprint Assemblages from the J/K Boundary in China exceptionally well-preserved fossils such as feathered dinosaurs, angiosperms, primitive mammals, etc. [1, 2].There is a large temporal gap between the record of the Yanliao Biota and the Jehol Biota [3]
Theropod and sauropod trackways from the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary Tuchengzi Formation support the former view of saurischian dominated assemblages in East Asia during this time interval [56]
Summary
There is a large temporal gap between the record of the Yanliao Biota and the Jehol Biota [3] This transition period, is nearly equivalent to the age of the Tuchengzi ( called Houcheng) Formation [4]. The rich dinosaur tracks from the Tuchengzi Formation represent a significant additional to the faunal information. Dinosaur tracks, primarily those of theropods, are abundant in this unit; the most common are of the grallatorid morphotype [8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18]. Other less common Tuchengzi Formation tracks include Therangospodus isp. and Megalosauripus isp., didactyl Menglongipus tracks, attributed to Dromaeopodidae [14], the bird track Pullornipes [19] and possible ornithopod tracks [18]
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