First Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous dinosaur footprints for Bolivia at the Castellón formation (Tacurú Group), Tarija

Bolivia has an outstanding tetrapod ichnological record from the uppermost Cretaceous deposits plus a new Triassic locality recently reported. Here, we report a new ichnosite, the first for the Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous in the Castellón Formation (Tarija, Bolivia) bearing about 350 dinosaur tr...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Historical biology 2024-09, Vol.36 (9), p.1883-1902
Main Authors: Méndez Torrez, Gustavo, Lovera Cruz, Limber, Céspedes-Llave, Ariel Ángel, Esperante, Raúl, Gutiérrez Berrios, Christian, Apesteguía, Sebastián
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cretaceous
dinosaur behaviour
Dinosaurs
ichnites
Jurassic
palaeoecology
Sauropod tracks
Synchronism
Triassic
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Bolivia has an outstanding tetrapod ichnological record from the uppermost Cretaceous deposits plus a new Triassic locality recently reported. Here, we report a new ichnosite, the first for the Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous in the Castellón Formation (Tarija, Bolivia) bearing about 350 dinosaur tracks. With the exception of few tridactyl tracks, all exhibit sauropod characteristics. The exposed set consists of three mediumgauge, subparallel large quadrupedal trackways, with one trackway oriented in opposite direction to the other two. The best preserved trackway shows large pedes of about 95 cm and 75 cm in length and width, respectively. The trackmaker was about 3.80 m in height at the hip and walked at a speed under 5 km/h. Available evidence suggests that the producer of the more detailed trackway may be a member of non-Neosauropoda Eusauropoda, even if a titanosauriform producer cannot be discarded. Dozens of small-sized sauropod tracks, less than 15 cm in pes diameter, appear associated with two of the trackways. The distribution of these trackways provides elements to test gregariousness among trackmakers if a possible synchronism is accepted. Wanderings recognisable on the sediment surface suggest that they may collectively represent an ichnological example of herd behaviour.
ISSN:0891-2963
1029-2381
DOI:10.1080/08912963.2023.2235373