China News Service, Beijing, June 4th (Reporter Sun Zifa) The team of Wang Xiaolin from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences made the latest research progress on the newly discovered theropod dinosaur footprints in the Junggar Basin, Xinjiang: newly discovered large and medium-sized species Dinosaur footprints are all classified into the Asian footprint genus. Among them, the large-scale footprint has also established a new species-the Niu's Asian footprint, which is currently the largest Asian footprint in the world.
Niu's Asian footprint and heel Asian footprint and creators' ecological restoration map. Photo courtesy of Wang Xiaolin team
Researcher Wang Xiaolin said in an interview with reporters via the Internet on the 4th that the discovery and research of the Wuerhe pterosaur fauna in the Junggar Basin of Xinjiang began in the 1960s. Since 2006, he led the scientific research team of the Institute of Paleospine of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to conduct continuous surveys of Mesozoic paleontology and strata such as the Tuha Basin and the Junggar Basin in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang, and discovered the Early Cretaceous Hami Pterosaur Fauna in the Hami Basin. A large number of fossils of pterosaurs, dinosaurs, birds and other symbiotic symbiosis. In Wuerhe and its neighboring areas on the northwestern margin of the Junggar Basin, in addition to the abundant skeletal fossils of pterosaurs, dinosaurs, etc., there are also many preserved layers A large number of footprint fossil groups composed of pterosaurs, dinosaurs, birds and turtles have greatly enriched the fossil types and composition of the fauna. In addition to the systematic morphological description of the newly discovered theropod dinosaur footprints, this study also briefly analyzed the individual size, behavioral habits and ancient environment background of the footprints of the dinosaurs.
Footprint fossil field distribution and footprint line map of Wuerhe Huangyangquan Reservoir footprint. Photo courtesy of Wang Xiaolin team
Wang Xiaolin's team recently discovered an important paper on the footsteps and research progress of theropod dinosaurs in the Early Cretaceous Wuerhe Pterosaurs fauna in the Junggar Basin, Xinjiang, and it has recently been published online in the academic journal Science Bulletin. The first author and doctoral student Li Yang introduced that the newly discovered theropod dinosaur footprints are preserved on a gray-green fine-grained sandstone layer about 12 meters long and 7 meters wide and about 80 square meters in area. . The footprint fossil layer has two layers, the upper level preserves 6 footprints, and the lower level exposes only 7 footprints (most of which are covered by the upper level), forming a total of 3 trails and 4 isolated footprints.
Niu's Asian footprint (new species) field fossil photos, models and line drawings (scale bar is 20 cm): (a) positive specimen, (b) subtype specimen, (c) classified as specimen. Photo courtesy of Wang Xiaolin team
The research team identified two types of three-toed footprints, large and small, with a total length of 47-56 cm, a width of 31-42 cm, a single step of 164-180 cm, and a multiple step. It is 328-336 cm; the medium-sized footprint is about half smaller than the large footprint, with a total footprint of 21-27 cm and a width of 18-20 cm. From the analysis of the size and morphological characteristics of footprints, both types of footprints belong to the Asian genus of footprints. Because the large-scale footprint is different from the two species known as the Asian genus, the Asian footprint is a new species-Niu's Asian footprint. The name of the species is given to Niu Chunwang, the main discoverer of the footprint. This new species of Asian footprint is about 1.5 times larger than the largest known Asian footprint and is currently the largest type of Asian footprint genus in the world. The medium footprint is classified as the known Asian footprint.
Photos, models and line drawings of wild fossils of the Asian footprint of the heel pad (scale bar is 10cm). Photo courtesy of Wang Xiaolin team
Li Yang said that according to the academic formula of the academic circles, the hips of Niu's Asian footprint dinosaurs have a hip height of about 2.3 meters and a body length of nearly 6 meters. They belong to large theropod dinosaurs. The heel of the Asian footprint dinosaur with a heel pad is about 1 meter high and 2.5 meters long. Further estimation of the walking speed of the dinosaurs shows that the walking speed of the dinosaurs of the Niu's Asian footprint and the heeled Asian footprint are about 8 km and 6.5 km per hour, respectively. At the same time, based on the characteristics of the symmetrical wave marks, insect tracks and the complete preservation of the trail (travel) fossils preserved at the footprint level, the research team concluded that the newly discovered footprint fossils were formed by two types of dinosaurs walking on the lakeside.
It is understood that the Asian footprint genus that represents the type of theropod dinosaurs was first discovered in the Lower Cretaceous stratum in Japan in 2005. The model species is the heel Asian footprint. Chinese scholars have previously discovered abundant Asian footprints in the Lower Cretaceous strata of Etuoke, Inner Mongolia, and sporadic discoveries in the Lower Cretaceous strata in Hebei and Shandong, but their preservation is poor. (Finish)