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On the validity of Pteraichnus palacieisaenzi, Pascual Arribas and Sanz Pérez 2000: new data from the Huérteles formation

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Abstract

The original definition of the ichnospecies Pteraichnus palacieisaenzi Pascual Arribas and Sanz Pérez (Estudios Geológicos 56:73–100, 2000) failed to comply with some of the norms proposed in the most recent version of the ICZN (International code of zoological nomenclature, fourth edition 1999) for the definition of new taxa. This was an undesired consequence of the long process of its publication. Furthermore, the progressive growth of lichens in the tracksite made it difficult to see the tracks, as a result of which some authors have called the validity of P. palacieisaenzi into question. After being completely cleaned, the tracks are of a better quality than at the time of their discovery, making it possible to describe the characters of the ichnotaxon in greater detail. Moulds of the type specimens have been prepared with a view to housing them in a public institution (Museo Numantino, Soria). The present paper redescribes the ichnospecies P. palacieisaenzi and compares this ichnotaxon with other tracks from a variety of pterosaur ichnospecies. Finally, a hypothesis is proposed on the trackmaker of the ichnospecies.

Kurzfassung

Die ursprüngliche Definition der Ichnospezies Pteraichnus palacieisaenzi Pascual Arribas & Sanz Pérez 2000 verletzte einige Regeln für die Definition neuer Taxa, die in der aktuellen Ausgabe des Internationalen Codes für Zoologische Nomenklatur (ICZN 1999) dargelegt wurden. Dabei handelte es sich um eine unerwünschte Folge des langen Veröffentlichungsvorgangs. Ferner war es infolge des fortschreitenden Flechtenwachstums in den Spurenfossilien an der Stätte schwierig, die Spuren selbst auszumachen, was dazu geführt hat, dass einige Autoren die Gültigkeit der Ichnospezies P. palacieisaenzi in Frage gestellt haben. Nach einer vollständigen Reinigung sind die Ichnofossilien von besserer Qualität als zu dem Zeitpunkt ihrer Entdeckung, was es uns ermöglicht hat, die Charaktere des Ichnotaxons ausführlicher zu beschreiben. Es sind Abgüsse der Typ-Exemplare erstellt worden, um sie in einer öffentlichen Einrichtung (Museo Numantino, Soria) zu deponieren. In dieser Arbeit wird die Ichnospezies Pteraichnus palacieisaenzi neu beschrieben und mit verschiedenen anderen Flugsaurier-Ichnospezies verglichen. Zum Schluss wird eine Hypothese über den Autor dieser Ichnospezies dargelegt.

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Abbreviations

MNS:

Museo Numantino, Soria, Spain

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the Junta de Castilla y León for the necessary authorization to carry out the cleaning operation at the site of Los Tormos and for the preparation of moulds and replicas of the holotypes and paratypes of P. palacieisaenzi. We are likewise grateful to the Mayor of Santa Cruz de Yanguas for his collaboration during the process and to the Museo Numantino for allowing us to deposit the studied material there. This article forms part of project CGL2010-16447 of the Ministry of Science and Innovation, the European Regional Development Fund, and the Government of Aragon (‘Grupos Consolidados’). Rupert Glasgow translated the text into English. D. Castanera is the beneficiary of a grant from the Ministry of Education (AP2008-01340). This paper also forms part of the collaboration between the Fundación Juan-Miguel Villar Mir and the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, to whose director Dr. D. Ignacio Menendez-Pidal we are grateful for the support he has shown. We are likewise grateful for the great work of the reviewers (M. G. Lockley, J. I. Ruiz-Omeñaca and Grzegorz Niedzewiedzki), whose suggestions were very important in improving the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. C/Real 65, 42002, Soria, Spain

    Carlos Pascual-Arribas

  2. Grupo Aragosaurus-IUCA, Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Zaragoza, C/Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009, Zaragoza, Spain

    José I. Canudo, Diego Castanera & José L. Barco

  3. Dpto. de Ing. y Morfología del Terreno, Esc. Tec. Sup. Ing. C. C. y, P. Ciudad Universitaria, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Eugenio Sanz Pérez

  4. C/Jorge Vigón 37, 26003, Logroño, Spain

    Nieves Hernández-Medrano

  5. Paleoymás, Polígono INBISA, Empresarium, C/Retama, 17 Nave 24C, 50720, Cartuja Baja, Zaragoza, Spain

    José L. Barco

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  1. Carlos Pascual-Arribas
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Correspondence to Diego Castanera.

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Pascual-Arribas, C., Canudo, J.I., Sanz Pérez, E. et al. On the validity of Pteraichnus palacieisaenzi, Pascual Arribas and Sanz Pérez 2000: new data from the Huérteles formation. Paläontol Z 89, 459–483 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-014-0229-1

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