Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A manus dominated pterosaur track assemblage from Gansu, China: implications for behavior

  • Article
  • Earth Sciences
  • Published:
Science Bulletin

Abstract

The Yangouxia dinosaur tracksites are well known for a diverse assemblage of tetrapod tracks preserved as natural impressions (concave epireliefs) on large bedding planes, representing a locally widespread surface marking the transition from a sand- to a mud-dominated sequence in the Hekou Group. Previous ichnological studies at these large sites have focused on the morphology and ichnotaxonomy of the tracks, including a single trackway representing the first pterosaur tracks reported from China. Here, we report a distinctly different assemblage associated with minor sandstones in the mud-dominated sequence 20 m above the main tracksite level. This assemblage consists of at least 20 pterosaur manus track casts attributed to a single ichnotaxon (Pteraichnus). No pes tracks have been identified. These tracks mostly occur in random orientations, although one possible trackway segment is inferred, to represent walking progression. Manus-only pterosaur track assemblages are common and likely reflect differential registration depths of manus and pes and/or sub optimal preservation conditions. The tracks are associated with distinctive invertebrate traces including Cochlichnus, Spongeliomorpha and Paleophycus and suggest the pterosaurs were likely feeding on the invertebrate tracemakers.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Wellnhofer P (1991) The illustrated encyclopedia of Pterosaurs. Salamander Books, London

    Google Scholar 

  2. Barrett PM, Butler RJ, Edwards NP et al (2008) Pterosaur distribution in time and space: an atlas. Zittel B 28:61–107

    Google Scholar 

  3. Lü JC, Ji S, Yuan C et al (2006) Pterosaurs from China. Geological Publishing House, Beijing

    Google Scholar 

  4. Wang XL, Jiang SX, Meng X (2010) Recent progress in the study of pterosaurs from China. Bull Chin Acad Sci 24:86–88

    Google Scholar 

  5. Young CC (1964) On a new Pterosaurian from Sinkiang, China. Vertebr Palasiat 8:221–255

    Google Scholar 

  6. Dong ZM (1982) On a new Pterosauria (Huanhepterus quingyangensis gen.et. sp.nov.) from Ordos, China. Vertebr Palasiat 20:115–121

    Google Scholar 

  7. Peng BX, Du YS, Li DQ et al (2004) The first discovery of the Early Cretaceous pterosaur track and its significance in Yanguoxia, Yongjing County, Gansu Province. J Chin Univ Geosci (Earth Sci) 29:21–24

    Google Scholar 

  8. Zhang JP, Li DQ, Li M et al (2006) Diverse dinosaur-, pterosaur-, and bird-track assemblages from the Hakou Formation, Lower Cretaceous of Gansu Province, northwest China. Cretac Res 27:44–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Lü JC, Chen RJ, Azuma Y et al (2010) New pterosaur tracks from the early Late Cretaceous of Dongyang City, Zhejiang Province, China. Acta Geosci Sin 31:46–48

    Google Scholar 

  10. Chen ZJ, Lü JC, Zhu YX et al (2013) Pterosaur tracks from the early Late Cretaceous of Dongyang City, Zhejiang Province, China. Geol Bull China 32:693–698

    Google Scholar 

  11. Xing LD, Harris JD, Gierlinski GD et al (2012) Early Cretaceous pterosaur tracks from a “buried” dinosaur tracksite in Shandong Province, China. Palaeoworld 21:50–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Xing LD, Lockley MG, Piñuela L et al (2013) Pterosaur trackways from the Lower Cretaceous Jiaguan Formation (Barremian-Albian) of Qijiang, Southwest China. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 392:177–185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Xing LD, Lockley MG, Klein H et al (2013) Dinosaur, bird and pterosaur footprints from the Lower Cretaceous of Wuerhe asphaltite area, Xinjiang, China, with notes on overlapping track relationships. Palaeoworld 22:42–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. He Q, Xing LD, Zhang JP et al (2013) New Early Cretaceous pterosaur-bird track assemblage from Xinjiang, China—palaeoethology and palaeoenvironment. Acta Geol Sin-Engl Ed 87:1477–1485

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Xing LD, Lockley MG, Marty D et al (2015) Re-description of the partially collapsed Early Cretaceous Zhaojue dinosaur tracksite (Sichuan Province, China) by using previously registered video coverage. Cretac Res 52:138–152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Lockley MG, Logue TJ, Moratalla JJ et al (1995) The fossil trackway Pteraichnus is pterosaurian, not crocodilian: implications for the global distribution of pterosaur tracks. Ichnos 4:7–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Lockley MG, Rainforth EC (2002) The tracks record of Mesozoic birds and pterosaurs. In: Chiappe LM, Witmer LM (eds) Mesozoic birds. Above the heads of dinosaurs. University California Press, California, pp 405–418

    Google Scholar 

  18. Calvo JO, Lockley MG (2001) The first pterosaur tracks from Gondwana. Cretec Res 22:585–590

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Gansu Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources (1997) Stratigraphy (Lithostratic) of Gansu Province. China University of Geosciences Press, Wuhan, p 314 (in Chinese)

  20. Chen J (2013) Sedimentary characteristics and paleogeography of the Hekou Group in Lanzhou-Minhe Basin in the Early Cretaceous. Master Thesis, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, pp 1–73

  21. Chen J, Liu YQ, Kuang HW et al (2013) Sedimentary characteristics and their basin analysis significance of the Lower Cretaceous Hekou Group in Zhongpu area of Lanzhou-Minhe Basin, Gansu Province. J Palaeogeogr 15:155–168

    Google Scholar 

  22. Tang YH, Dai S, Huang YB et al (2008) The early Cretaceous tectonic uplift of Qilian Mountains: evidence from the sedimentary facies and susceptibility of rocks of the Hekou group, Lanzhou-Minhe basin. Earth Sci Front 15:261–271

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Zhang HF, Lin QX, Zhang ZY et al (2003) Study on the sedimentary sequence and sedimentary facies of the Early Cretaceous Hekou Group in Lanzhou-Minhe Basin. Geol Sci Technol Inf 22:21–26

    Google Scholar 

  24. Zhou XG, Li DQ, Peng C (2005) Analysis of paleoenvironment and fossil formation based on Yanguoxia dinosaur tracks from Yongjing County, Gansu Province. Gansu Sci Technol 21:114–117

    Google Scholar 

  25. Hitchcock E (1858) Ichnology of New England a report on the sandstone of the Connecticut valley especially its footprints. White, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  26. Bromley R, Asgaard U (1979) Triassic freshwater ichnocoenoses from Carlsberg Fjord, East Greenland. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 28:39–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Hall J (1847) Containing descriptions of the organic remains of the lower division of the New York System. Van Benthuysen, Albany

    Google Scholar 

  28. de Gibert JM, Fregenal-Martínez MA, Buatois LA et al (2000) Trace fossils and their palaeoecological significance in Lower Cretaceous lacustrine conservation deposits, El Montsec, Spain. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 156:89–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Walter H, Hofmann U (2001) Lebensspuren (Ichnia) ausdem Rotliegend der Döhlen-Senke (Sachsen). Freiberger Forschungshefte C 492:121–158

    Google Scholar 

  30. Melchor RN, Bedatou E, de Valais S et al (2006) Lithofacies distribution of invertebrate and vertebrate trace-fossil assemblages in an Early Mesozoic ephemeral fluvio-lacustrine system from Argentina: Implications for the Scoyenia ichnofacies. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 239:253–285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Ekdale AA, Bromley RG, Pemberton SG (1984) Ichnology: the use of trace fossils in sedimentology and stratigraphy. SEPM Short Course Notes 15:1–317

    Google Scholar 

  32. White CD (1929) Flora of the Hermit Shale, Grand Canyon, Arizona. Carnegie Inst Wash Publ 405:1–221

    Google Scholar 

  33. Smith JJ, Hasiotis ST, Kraus MJ et al (2008) Relationship of floodplain ichnocoenoses to paleopedology, paleohydrology, and paleoclimate in the Willwood Formation, Wyoming, during the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum. Palaios 23:683–699

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Yang SP, Zhang JP, Yang MF (2004) Trace fossils of China. Science Press, Beijing

    Google Scholar 

  35. Buatois LA, Mángano MG (1993) Trace fossils from a Carboniferous turbiditic lake: implications for the recognition of additional nonmarine ichnofacies. Ichnos 2:237–258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Buatois LA, Mángano MG (1995) The paleoenvironmental and paleoecological significance of the lacustrine Mermia Ichnofacies: an archetypical subaqueous nonmarine trace fossil assemblage. Ichnos 4:151–161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Netto RG, Balistieri PRMN, Lavina ELC et al (2009) Ichnological signatures of shallow freshwater lakes in the glacial Itararé Group (Mafra Formation, Upper Carboniferous–Lower Permian of Paraná Basin, S Brazil). Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 272:240–255

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Melchor RN, Bellosi E, Genise JF (2003) Invertebrate and vertebrate trace fossils from a lacustrine delta: the Los Rastros Formation, Ischigualasto Provincial Park, San Juan, Argentina. Publ Esp Asoc Palaeontol Argent 9:17–33

    Google Scholar 

  39. Buatois LA, Mángano MG (2007) Invertebrate ichnology of continental freshwater environments. In: Miller W III (ed) Trace fossils concepts, problems, prospects. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 285–323

    Google Scholar 

  40. Bai ZK, Lü XX, Liu XP et al (2012) Trace fossils from lower Cambrian Wusongger Formation in Xiaoerbulake outcrop, Kalpin Area, Xinjiang. Acta Geol Sin-Engl Ed 86:313–319

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Jin H, Zhang J, Ma SY (2013) Trace fossils and sedimentary environment of the upper Triassic Xujiahe Formation in Sichuan Basin. Lithol Res 25:24–28

    Google Scholar 

  42. Xing LD, Klein H, Lockley MG et al (2014) Changpeipus (theropod) tracks from the Middle Jurassic of the Turpan Basin, Xinjiang, Northwest China: new discoveries, ichnotaxonomy, preservation and paleoecology. Vert PalAs 52:233–259

    Google Scholar 

  43. Stokes WL (1957) Pterodactyl tracks from the Morrison Formation. J Paleontol 31:952–954

    Google Scholar 

  44. Padian K, Olsen PE (1984) The fossil trackway Pteraichnis: not pterosaurian but crocodilian. J Paleoantol 58:178–184

    Google Scholar 

  45. Lockley MG, Harris JD (2015) Pterosaur tracks and tracksites: Pteraichnidae. In: Martill D, Unwin D, Loveridge R (eds) The Pterosauria. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, ISBN: 9780521518956

  46. Fuentes VC, Meijide CM, Meijide FF et al (2004) Pteraichnus longipodus nov. Ichnosp. In Oncala Mountain (Soria, Spain). Stvdia Geol Salmant 40:103–114

    Google Scholar 

  47. Meijide CM, Fuentes VC (2001) Huellas de pterosaurios en el Weald de Soria (España). Actas I Jornadas Internacionales sobre paleontología de dinosaurios y su entorno. Salas de los Infantes, pp 397–406

  48. Lee YN, Azuma Y, Lee HJ et al (2010) The first pterosaur trackways from Japan. Cretac Res 31:263–273

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Li DQ, Azuma Y, Fujita M et al (2006) A preliminary reporto n two new vertebrate tracks sites including dinosaurs from the early Cretaceous Hekou Group, Gansu Province, China. J Paleont Soc Korea 22:29–49

    Google Scholar 

  50. Lockley MG, Mitchell L, Odier G (2007) Small theropod track assemblages from Middle Jurassic eolianites of eastern Utah: paleoecological insights from dune facies in a transgressive sequence. Ichnos 14:132–143

    Google Scholar 

  51. Lockley MG, Wright JL (2003) Pterosaur swim tracks and other ichnological evidence of behavior and ecology. In: Buffetaut E, Mazin JM, (eds) Evolution and paleobiology of pterosaurs. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 217:297–313

  52. García-Ramos JC, Pinuela L, Lires J et al (2000) Icnitas de reptiles voladores (pterosaurios) con impressiones de la piel en el Jurassic Superior de Asturias (N. de Espafia). In: Diez JB, Balbino AC (eds) I Congresso Iberico de Paleontologia XVI Jornadas de la Sociedad Española de Paleontologia, Evora (Portugal) 12–14 Outubro, pp 87

  53. Claessens LPAM, O´Connor PM, Unwin DM et al (2009) Respiratory evolution facilitated the origin of Pterosaur flight and aerial gigantism. PLoS One 4:e4497

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Hone DWE, Henderson DM (2014) The posture of floating pterosaurs: Ecological implications for inhabiting marine and freshwater habitats. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 394:89–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Lockley MG, Cart K, Martin J et al (2014) A bonanza of new tetrapod tracksites from the Cretaceous Dakota Group, western Colorado: implications for paleoecology. N M Mus Nat Hist Sci Bull 62:393–409

    Google Scholar 

  56. Ji SA, Ji Q (1998) A new fossil pterosaur (Rhamphorhynchoidea) from Liaoning. Jiangsu Geol 22:199–206

    Google Scholar 

  57. Hone DWE, Lü J (2010) A new specimen of Dendrorhyncoides (Pterosauria: Anurognathidae) with a long tail and the evolution of the pterosaurian tail. Acta Geosci Sin 31:1082–1089

    Google Scholar 

  58. Lü JC, Azuma Y, Dong ZM (2009) New material of dsungaripterid pterosaurs (Pterosauria: Pterodactyloidea) from western Mongolia and its palaeoecological implications. Geol Mag 146:690–700

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Lockley MG, Harris JD, Mitchell L (2008) A global overview of pterosaur ichnology: tracksite distribution in space and time. Zittel B 28:187–198

    Google Scholar 

  60. Young CC (1973) Reports of Paleontological Expedition to Sinkiang (II): Pterosaurian Fauna from Wuerho. Sinkiang, Mem Inst Vertebr Paleontol Paleoanthropol Acad Sin

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank M. S. Oh, Y. S. Cho with Department of Earth Science Education, Korea National University of Education, South Korea for their participation in field research. We also thank Lisa Buckley with Peace Region Palaeontology Research Centre, Canada and Jianjun Li with Department of Research, Beijing Museum of Natural History, Beijing, China for their helpful suggestions. This work was supported by the Liujiaxia Dinosaurs National Geopark, and the 2013 Supporting Fund for Graduate Student’s Science and Technology Innovation from China University of Geosciences (Beijing), China.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geological Museum of Gansu, Lanzhou, 730040, China

    Daqing Li

  2. School of the Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, 100083, China

    Lida Xing, Jianping Zhang & Hui Dai

  3. Dinosaur Trackers Research Group, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO, 80217, USA

    Martin G. Lockley

  4. Museo del Jurásico de Asturias MUJA (Jurassic Museum of Asturias), 33328, Colunga, Spain

    Laura Piñuela

  5. Department of Earth Science Education, Korea National University of Education, Cheongwon, Chungbuk, 363-791, South Korea

    Jeong Yul Kim

  6. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, 11455 Saskatchewan Drive, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E9, Canada

    W. Scott Persons IV

  7. The Administrative Bureau of Liujiaxia Dinosaurs National Geopark, Yongjing, 731600, China

    Delai Kong

Authors
  1. Daqing Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lida Xing
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Martin G. Lockley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Laura Piñuela
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Jianping Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Hui Dai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Jeong Yul Kim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. W. Scott Persons IV
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Delai Kong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Lida Xing or Martin G. Lockley.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

11434_2014_681_MOESM1_ESM.tif

S1 Stratigraphic sections of the Lower Cretaceous Hekou Group in the study area showing the position of footprint horizons. Note the association of many dinosaur track levels in the lower sand dominated sequences and the occurrence of the pterosaur tracksite in the dominantly fine grained (mud-shale succession) (TIFF 656 kb)

S2 Photographs of well-preserved pterosaur manus prints from Yanguoxia pterosaur tracksite (TIFF 5534 kb)

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Li, D., Xing, L., Lockley, M.G. et al. A manus dominated pterosaur track assemblage from Gansu, China: implications for behavior. Sci. Bull. 60, 264–272 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-014-0681-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-014-0681-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation