New evidence of a herd of titanosauriform sauropods from the lower Berriasian of the Iberian range (Spain)

Abstract

A study of the undescribed part of the Las Cerradicas tracksite in Galve (Teruel, Spain) has revealed 6 trackways made by small sauropods showing gregarious behaviour (parallel trackways). Las Cerradicas is located towards the top of the Villar del Arzobispo Formation (early Berriasian). The wide-gauge condition, the manus–pes distance, the kidney-shaped morphology of the manus, and the subtriangular morphology of the pes (with a big digit I that swells medially and a narrow heel oriented posterolaterally) suggest that the sauropods in question are more similar to Sauropodichnus giganteus than to any other sauropod ichnotaxa. Some of the features point to the titanosauriforms as the best candidates to be the trackmakers. Recent work in bone histology, the differences with respect to other Iberian tracksites of similar age, and the differences with respect to other sauropod herds of the track record, do not allow us to establish whether the sauropods were juvenile or dwarfs. The sauropod skeletal record and other large sauropod footprints in the Villar del Arzobispo Formation could tip the scales in favour of the first hypothesis.