Affiliation:
1. Geological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences
2. North-Caucasus Federal University
Abstract
The Northern Caucasus area is an unique place, which contains numerous
outcrops of the Cretaceous deposits of wide stratigraphic range from
Valanginian up to Maastrichtian stages. These deposits contain taxonomically
various and highly diverse fossils of many organisms, and traces of their life
activity as well. The paper deals with a description of a new ichnospecies
of the carnivorous dinosaurs attributed to the ichnogenus Megalosauripus,
found in the Valanginian deposits (Lower Cretaceous) of the close vicinity
of the City of Kislovodsk. Four best-preserved footprints were selected for
the present study. These footprints represent a part of the collection of data
including a series of field and cameral photo-images, detailed line-tracing
drawings of the footprints, measurements of the footprints relative position
on the Valanginian depositional / sedimentary surfaces, and the plaster
molds taken of/from the footprints. History of study of the dinosaur footprints
in Northern Caucasus region is described in detail. The most representative
footprint assigned to a new ichnospecies M. caucasicus Naugolnykh et Afonkin,
ichnosp. nov. was selected as a holotype. The holotype is a tridactyl footprint
with imprints of claw phalanges. The most prominent digit is a middle one
(third digit), 18 cm long and 5 cm wide. Second digit is 11 cm long and
3 cm wide. Forth digit is 12 cm long, 2 cm wide. The first digit is weakly
visible. The angles between digits are: the angle between second and third
digits is 36°, the angle between third and fourth digits is 30°. Full length of the footprint is 19 cm. Maximal width of the footprint is 12 cm. The depth
of the footprint is about 1 cm. Two additional footprints attributed to the same
ichnospecis are described in detail as well. A comparison of the new
ichnospecies Megalosauripus caucasicus Naugolnykh et Afonkin, ichnosp. nov.
and the morphologically similar megalosaurid footprints from other regions
of the world is given. The footprints described in the present paper are smaller
than most of the other representatives of the ichnogenus Megalosauripus.
They are different of the similar ichnospecies M. transjuranicus Razzolini et al.,
M. uzbekistanicus Gabunyia et Kurbatov, and the similar footprints of the same
morphological type from Morocco and North America in weakly pronounced
imprints of the digit phalanges
Publisher
Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education «Moscow Pedagogical State University» (MPGU)
Reference21 articles.
1. Gabunia L.K. About dinosaur tracks from the Lower Cretaceous deposits of Western Georgia. Doklady AN SSSR. 1951. Vol. 81. No. 5. Pp. 917–919. (In Rus.)
2. Gabunia L.K. Sledy dinozavrov Dinosaur tracks. Moscow, 1958.
3. Gavrilov Yu.O. Dinosaur footprints in terrigeneous deposits of the Early Jurassic shelf of the central part of Northern Caucasus (sedimentologic and paleoecologic environments). Lithology and Mineral Resources. 2020. No. 5. Pp. 408–418. (In Rus.)
4. Mordvilko T.A. Nizhnemelovye otlozhenija Severnogo Kavkaza i Predkavkazja Lower Cretaceous deposits of the North Caucasus and Ciscaucasia. Moscow; Leningrad, 1960.
5. Naugolnykh S.V. In search of Cretaceous paleosols, or In the footsteps of Iguanodon. Priroda. 2010. No. 4. Pp. 43–48. (In Rus.)