Sauropod Trackway Reflecting an Unusual Walking Pattern from the Early Cretaceous of Shandong Province, China
Sauropod Trackway Reflecting an Unusual Walking Pattern from the Early Cretaceous of Shandong Province, China
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DOI：
10.1080/10420940.2015.1126583
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发表时间：
2017-01
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
L. Xing;Yongqing Liu;D. Marty;H. Kuang;H. Klein;W. Persons;Yan Lyu
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
L. Xing;Yongqing Liu;D. Marty;H. Kuang;H. Klein;W. Persons;Yan Lyu
摘要重新描述了山东潭城早白垩世清泉遗址一只四足恐龙的足迹，并鉴定其为蜥脚类恐龙。该轨道向西北方向略微转弯，其特点是轨距极窄，外形异常，即左右手动轨的位置相对于前一条PES轨道的位置有明显差异。左侧手部赛道位于赛道内侧，非常靠近(有时甚至是连接)相反的右侧PES赛道。到目前为止，清泉轨道可能是中国所知的唯一一条极窄轨蜥脚类轨道。然而，目前还不清楚这种极窄的轨距图案在多大程度上与转弯或特殊行为有关，甚至与受伤(一瘸一拐的轨道)有关。我们暂时将清泉轨道归于cf。PARABRONTOPOODUS，尽管它的异足体相当低，明显低于PARABROTOPOODUS，并且不是典型的窄径蜥脚类足迹，但出现在宽径的鱼鳞目Brontopodus中。由于这种差异，清泉轨道不能轻易地归因于更基本的蜥脚类动物，它通常被认为是窄轨轨道的生产商。因此，目前还不可能确定一个不同的蜥脚类类群。山东早白垩世唯一的蜥脚类骨骼遗骸属于大型泰坦龙类Euhelopus zdanskyi。
ABSTRACT The trackway of a quadrupedal dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous (Albian) Qingquan tracksite (Tancheng, Shandong Province) is redescribed, and the trackmaker is identified as a sauropod. The trackway makes a slight turn towards the northwest and is characterized by an extremely narrow gauge pattern and an unusual configuration, i.e., a conspicuous difference between the position of the left and right manus tracks with respect to the position of the preceding pes track. Left manus tracks are located on the inside of the trackway, very close (and sometimes even in connection) to the opposite right pes tracks. So far, the Qingquan trackway is possibly the only extremely narrow-gauge sauropod trackway known from China. However, it is not clear to what extent this extremely narrow gauge pattern is related to the turning or a special behavior, or even linked to an injury (“limping trackway”). We tentatively attribute the Qingquan trackway to cf. Parabrontopodus, even though it has a rather low heteropody that is significantly lower than in Parabrontopodus and not typical for narrow-gauge sauropod trackways, but occurs in the wide-gauge ichnotaxon Brontopodus. Because of this discrepancy, the Qingquan trackway cannot readily be attributed to a more basal sauropod, which is generally considered the producer of narrow-gauge trackways. Therefore, the identification of a distinct sauropod group is not possible presently. The only skeletal remains of sauropods from the Lower Cretaceous of Shandong Province belong to the large titanosauriform, Euhelopus zdanskyi.