Cretaceous dinosaur tracks from Maling Mountain of Xinyi City, Jiangsu Province:From tiger to carnivorous dinosaur and from folklore to paleontology

XING Lida; NIU Kecheng; LOVKLEY Martin G; GUO Ying; TANG Yonggang; PERSONS W Scott Ⅳ; RAN Hao

2019 Vol. 38, No. 6

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XING Lida, NIU Kecheng, LOVKLEY Martin G, GUO Ying, TANG Yonggang, PERSONS W Scott Ⅳ, RAN Hao. Cretaceous dinosaur tracks from Maling Mountain of Xinyi City, Jiangsu Province:From tiger to carnivorous dinosaur and from folklore to paleontology[J]. Geological Bulletin of China, 2019, 38(6): 905-910.

Citation:

XING Lida, NIU Kecheng, LOVKLEY Martin G, GUO Ying, TANG Yonggang, PERSONS W Scott Ⅳ, RAN Hao. Cretaceous dinosaur tracks from Maling Mountain of Xinyi City, Jiangsu Province:From tiger to carnivorous dinosaur and from folklore to paleontology[J]. Geological Bulletin of China, 2019, 38(6): 905-910.

Cretaceous dinosaur tracks from Maling Mountain of Xinyi City, Jiangsu Province:From tiger to carnivorous dinosaur and from folklore to paleontology

1.
State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China
2.
School of Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China
3.
Yingxiang No.5 Stone Nature History Museum, Quanzhou 362300, Fujian, China
4.
Dinosaur Trackers Research Group, University of Colorado, Denver PO Box 173364, Denver CO 80217, USA
5.
Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Linyi University, Linyi 276000, Shandong, China
6.
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, 11145 Saskatchewan Drive, EdmontonAlberta T6G 2E9, Canada
7.
Key Laboratory of Ecology of Rare and Endangered Species and Environmental Protection, Ministry of Education, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541004, Guangxi, China

Fund Project: This project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41790455, 41772008), the National Geographic Society, USA (No. EC0768-15); the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2652017215), the State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy (Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences) (No. 173127)

More Information

Author Bio: XING Lida (1982-), male, Ph.D, Professor, presently specializes in the Mesozoic vertebrate paleontology and functional morphology.E-mail:xinglida@cugb.edu.cn

Received Date: 29 September 2018

Revised Date: 20 October 2018

Available Online: 15 June 2019

Publish Date: 15 June 2019

Abstract

Abstract

Four enigmatic depressions, traditionally referred to as "tiger's paw traces" and "human footprints" from "Li Cunxiao Fighting Tiger" site of the Maling Mountain area in Xinyi City of Jiangsu Province are here interpreted as dinosaur tracks belonging to the Early Cretaceous Tianjialou Formation of the Dasheng Group. Only one of the "tiger's paw traces" at the largest depth preserves recognizable digit tracks, suggesting it is a left theropod track, with posterior medial hallux trace, forming part of a linear trackway with steps of~50cm. Alternatively, the track may be a small sauropod right pes track forming part of a trackway in which the left side footprints were not registered. Malingshan tracksite demonstrates another case of how dinosaur tracks influenced Chinese folklore.
- Early Cretaceous /
- dinosaur tracks /
- theropod /
- Dasheng Group /
- legend

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References

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