A ceratopsid-dominated tracksite from the Dinosaur Park Formation (Campanian) at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada
Phil R. Bell, Brian J. Pickles, Sarah C. Ashby, Issy E. Walker, Sally Hurst, Michael Rampe, Paul Durkin, Caleb M. Brown, Ulrich Joger, Ulrich Joger, Ulrich Joger
TL;DR
A new dinosaur tracksite in Alberta reveals rare ceratopsid footprints and suggests group behavior, offering new insights into dinosaur activity in the region.
Contribution
The first multitaxic dinosaur footprint assemblage from the Dinosaur Park Formation, including rare ceratopsid tracks and a new search method for track identification.
Findings
Ceratopsid tracks dominate the site, suggesting gregarious behavior due to their regular spacing and parallel arrangement.
A possible ankylosaurian track is identified based on three distinct pedal digits, differentiating it from other ankylosaurian tracks.
Natural molds (concave epirelief) were discovered for the first time in Dinosaur Provincial Park, enabling new trackway discoveries.
Abstract
The badlands of Dinosaur Provincial Park (Alberta, Canada) are renowned for the exceptional abundance and diversity of Campanian-aged vertebrate body fossils, especially dinosaurs. Due to the steep exposures and rapid erosion, dinosaur tracks and trackways are considered extremely rare but have been recorded from a small number of concretionary casts, which pertain to hadrosaurids and a single tyrannosaurid. Here, we document the first multitaxic dinosaur footprint assemblage from the Dinosaur Park Formation based on a new locality that contains multiple individual ceratopsids, two tyrannosaurids, a possible ankylosaurian, and a small theropod-like taxon. Ceratopsid tracks are globally rare but dominate the new tracksite, suggesting gregarious behaviour, which is also supported by their regular spacing and parallel arrangement. The possible ankylosaurian track is identified (in part) on…
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Taxonomy
TopicsPaleontology and Evolutionary Biology · Evolution and Paleontology Studies · Ichthyology and Marine Biology