First pterosaur tracks from the Junggar Basin, China
Li et al 2024 described
‘large pterosaur footprints’ and compared them with digitigrade dsungaripterids because dsungaripterid fossil skeletons were also found in the area.
Unfortunately the new pterosaur footprints are plantigrade = flat-footed.
Figure 1. Pteroichnus junggarensis track. Here colors and PILs are added. Compare proportions to Noripterus (a dsungaripterid) pes and a small ctenochasmatid pes from the Lauer collection.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/pteraichnus_junggarensis588-2.gif?w=265″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/pteraichnus_junggarensis588-2.gif?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-89673″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/pteraichnus_junggarensis588-2.gif” alt=”Figure 1. Pteroichnus junggarensis track. Here colors and PILs are added. Compare proportions to Noripterus (a dsungaripterid) pes and a small ctenochasmatid pes from the Lauer collection.” width=”584″ height=”660″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/pteraichnus_junggarensis588-2.gif?w=584&h=660 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/pteraichnus_junggarensis588-2.gif?w=133&h=150 133w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/pteraichnus_junggarensis588-2.gif?w=265&h=300 265w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/pteraichnus_junggarensis588-2.gif 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 1. Pteroichnus junggarensis track. Here colors and PILs are added. Compare proportions to Noripterus (a dsungaripterid) pes and a small ctenochasmatid pes from the Lauer collection. PILs are discontinuous in plantigrade Noripterus. PILs become continuous in a digitigrade configuration.
Beachcombing ctenochasmatid pedes are also plantigrade.
Their proportions (Fig 1) match those of the new Junggar track.
Unfortunately, Li et al don’t mention ctenochasmatids.
Figure 2. Noripterus pes paper model raised to a digitigrade configuration. This makes the PILs continuous.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/noripterus.digitigrade588.jpg?w=213″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/noripterus.digitigrade588.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-89675″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/noripterus.digitigrade588.jpg” alt=”Figure 2. Noripterus pes paper model raised to a digitigrade configuration. This makes the PILs continuous. ” width=”584″ height=”823″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/noripterus.digitigrade588.jpg?w=584&h=823 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/noripterus.digitigrade588.jpg?w=106&h=150 106w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/noripterus.digitigrade588.jpg?w=213&h=300 213w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/noripterus.digitigrade588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 2. Noripterus pes paper model raised to a digitigrade configuration. This makes the PILs continuous. Note: pedal digit 4 is the longest here, distinct from the track in figure 1.
The proportions of the dsungaripterid pedes
don’t match the ichnite – unless it is flipped over left to right.
That is the other issue. The pads are not clearly delineated. They had a ready answer from local fossils. That’s why PILs and the possibility of a digitigrade pes in pterosaurs must be considered.
The PILs are discontinuous
in the dsungaripterid plantigrade configuration. PILs become continuous when the ankle and proximal phalanges are raised to the digitigrade configuration (Fig 2), as in the pterosaur ancestor Cosesaurus and matching Rotodactylus tracks (Peters 2000a, 2010).
The authors wrote,
“By comparing these footprints with the anatomical characteristics of local larger pterosaur pedal bone fossils, it is suggested that the large-sized P. junggarensis footprints were produced by Dsungaripterus weii. The successful correlation between pterosaur fossils and their footprints within the Wuerho Pterosaur Fauna marks a momentous stride in deducing trackmakers based on their footprints.”
The authors include an image of the Dsungaripterus pes, but it is incomplete and therefore of little to no utility. This problem requires a complete fossil pes. So the authors also include a complete Noripterus pes, which was used to build the paper model (Fig 2).
The authors did not include a citation for PILs or the catalog of pterosaur pedes
(Peters 2000a, 2010, 2011). As a result the authors did they realize that some pterosaurs were digitigrade and how to tell one from another.
References
Li Y, et al 2024. First deciphering of large pterosaur footprints and their trackmaker in the Junggar Basin, China, Cretaceous Research,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2024.106036
Peters D 2000a Description and Interpretation of Interphalangeal Lines in Tetrapods Ichnos, 7: 11-41.
Peters D 2010. In defence of parallel interphalangeal lines. Historical Biology iFirst article, 2010, 1–6 DOI: 10.1080/08912961003663500
Peters D 2011. A Catalog of Pterosaur Pedes for Trackmaker Identification. Ichnos 18(2):114-141. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10420940.2011.573605
Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2024/11/12/first-pterosaur-tracks-from-the-junggar-basin-china/
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