Grallator ["GRA-luh-tor"] is an ichnogenus which covers a common type of small, three-toed print made by a variety of bipedal theropod dinosaurs. Grallator-type footprints have been found in formations dating from the Early Triassic through to the early Cretaceous periods. They are found in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, Brazil and China, but are most abundant on the east coast of North America, especially the Triassic and Early Jurassic formations of the northern part of the Newark Supergroup. The name Grallator translates into "stilt walker", although the actual length and form of the trackmaking legs varied by species, usually unidentified. The related term "Grallae" is an ancient name for the presumed group of long-legged wading birds, such as storks and herons. These footprints were given this name by their discoverer, Edward Hitchcock, in 1858.
A fossil track or ichnite is a fossilized footprint. This is a type of trace fossil. A fossil trackway is a sequence of fossil tracks left by a single organism. Over the years, many ichnites have been found, around the world, giving important clues about the behaviour of the animals that made them. For instance, multiple ichnites of a single species, close together, suggest 'herd' or 'pack' behaviour of that species.
Dinosaur Stampede National Monument at Lark Quarry Conservation Park in Queensland, Australia is considered to be the site of the world's only known record of a dinosaur stampede, with fossilised footprints are interpreted as a predator stalking and causing a stampede of around 150 two-legged dinosaurs. This interpretation has been challenged in recent years, with evidence suggesting it may have been a natural river crossing.
Eubrontes is the name of fossilised dinosaur footprints dating from the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic. They have been identified from France, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Australia (Queensland), US, India and China.
The Caturrita Formation is a rock formation found in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Its sediments were deposited in the Paraná Basin. The formation is from the Upper Triassic and forms part of the Santa Maria Supersequence in the upper section of the Rosário do Sul Group.
The Adamantina Formation is a geological formation in the Bauru Basin of western São Paulo state, in southeastern Brazil.
The Chacarilla Formation is an Oxfordian to Early Cretaceous geologic formation of the Tarapacá Basin in northern Chile, close to the border with Bolivia. The marine and fluvial formation preserves several dinosaur trackways and has been declared a Natural Sanctuary in 2004.
Macropodosaurus is an ichnogenus of therizinosaurid footprints from the Late Cretaceous of Asia, North America and Poland. The ichnogenus is currently monotypic only including the type ichnospecies M. gravis, described and named in 1964.
Tyrannosauripus is an ichnogenus of dinosaur footprint. It was discovered by geologist Charles "Chuck" Pillmore in 1983 and formally described by Martin Lockley and Adrian Hunt in 1994. This fossil footprint from northern New Mexico is 96 cm long and given its Late Cretaceous age, it very likely belonged to the giant theropod dinosaur Tyrannosaurus rex. In 2016 the size of this individual was estimated at 11.4 meters and 5.8-6.9 tonnes. Similar tridactyl dinosaur tracks in North America were discovered earlier and named Tyrannosauropus in 1971, but they were later recognized as hadrosaurid tracks and their description deemed inadequate, with Tyrannosauropus regarded as a nomen dubium. True footprints likely from Tyrannosaurus would not be found until the discovery of Tyrannosauripus. In 2007, a large tyrannosaurid track was found also in eastern Montana. In 2016, a probable fossil trackway of Tyrannosaurus was discovered in Wyoming.
Tyrannosauropus is a dubious ichnogenus of tridactyl dinosaur footprint from the Campanian of the Late Cretaceous of North America. Tyrannosauropus was named for a collection of footprints discovered on the ceiling of a cave in Utah which were suggested to have been made by Tyrannosaurus and informally labelled as "Tyrannosauripus" in 1924. These footprints would later be named by Haubold in 1971 as Tyrannosauropus petersoni, and attributed to Tyrannosaurus rex. However, Tyrannosauropus are Campanian in age, pre-dating the Maastrichtian age for Tyrannosaurus, and the morphology of the footprints more closely resembles those of hadrosaurid dinosaurs than those of theropods. Furthermore, in 1994 another footprint was described as likely belonging to Tyrannosaurus that matched it in both age and morphology and was named Tyrannosauripus. In the same publication, the description of Tyrannosauropus was deemed inadequate, with the holotype damaged and lost, and the ichnotaxon was declared undiagnostic and thus a nomen dubium.
The Alcântara Formation is a geological formation in northeastern Brazil whose strata date back to the Cenomanian of the Late Cretaceous.
Hadrosaurichnoides is a controversial Early Cretaceous ichnogenus of dinosaur footprint erected by María Lourdes Casanovas Cladellas. The original description attributed the ichnogenus to an ornithopod trackmaker, but in 2001 Lockley and Wright argued that they were actually left by theropods because the prints were longer and narrower than would be expected for ornithopod tracks.
The Botucatu Formation is an Aptian geologic formation of the Paraná and Pelotas Basins in southern Brazil and northern Uruguay. The formation is composed of quartzitic sandstones, deposited in an eolian environment. Fossil theropod tracks have been reported from the formation.
The 20th century in ichnology refers to advances made between the years 1900 and 1999 in the scientific study of trace fossils, the preserved record of the behavior and physiological processes of ancient life forms, especially fossil footprints. Significant fossil trackway discoveries began almost immediately after the start of the 20th century with the 1900 discovery at Ipolytarnoc, Hungary of a wide variety of bird and mammal footprints left behind during the early Miocene. Not long after, fossil Iguanodon footprints were discovered in Sussex, England, a discovery that probably served as the inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World.
This article records new taxa of trace fossils of every kind that are scheduled to be described during the year 2019, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to trace fossil paleontology that are scheduled to occur in the year 2019.
Vespersaurus is a genus of noasaurid theropod dinosaur from the Cretaceous Rio Paraná Formation in the Paraná Basin, Brazil. The type and only species is V. paranaensis, which would have lived in the giant prehistoric Botucatu Desert.
Gwyneddichnium is an ichnogenus from the Late Triassic of North America and Europe. It represents a form of reptile footprints and trackways, likely produced by small tanystropheids such as Tanytrachelos. Gwyneddichnium includes a single species, Gwyneddichnium major. Two other proposed species, G. elongatum and G. minore, are indistinguishable from G. major apart from their smaller size and minor taphonomic discrepancies. As a result, they are considered junior synonyms of G. major.
Bellatoripes is an ichnogenus of footprint produced by a large theropod dinosaur so far known only from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta and British Columbia in Canada. The tracks are large and three-toed, and based on their size are believed to have been made by tyrannosaurids, such as Albertosaurus and Daspletosaurus. Fossils of Bellatoripes are notable for preserving trackways of multiple individual tyrannosaurids all travelling in the same direction at similar speeds, suggesting the prints may have been made by a group, or pack, of tyrannosaurids moving together. Such inferences of behaviour cannot be made with fossil bones alone, so the record of Bellatoripes tracks together is important for understanding how large predatory theropods such as tyrannosaurids may have lived.
Wakinyantanka is an ichnogenus of footprint produced by a large theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation of South Dakota. Wakinyantanka tracks are large with three long, slender toes with occasional impressions of a short hallux and narrow metatarsals. Wakinyantanka was the first dinosaur track to be discovered in the Hell Creek Formation, which remain rare in the preservational conditions of the rocks. The potential trackmakers may be a large oviraptorosaur or a small tyrannosaurid.
The year 2018 in non-avian dinosaur paleontology was eventful. Archosaurs include the only living dinosaur group — birds — and the reptile crocodilians, plus all extinct dinosaurs, extinct crocodilian relatives, and pterosaurs. Archosaur palaeontology is the scientific study of those animals, especially as they existed before the Holocene Epoch began about 11,700 years ago. This article records new taxa of fossil archosaurs of the non-avian variety that have been described during the year 2018, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleontology of archosaurs that occurred in the year 2018.
