Dinosaur locomotion from a new trackway

Abstract

Ardley Quarry in Oxfordshire, UK, contains one of the most extensive dinosaur-trackway sites in the world, with individual trackways extending for up to 180 metres. We have discovered a unique dual-gauge trackway from a bipedal theropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic in this locality, which indicates that these large theropods were able to run and that they used different hindlimb postures for walking and running. Our findings have implications for the biomechanics and evolution of theropod locomotion.

The ‘Goldilocks’ effect: preservation bias in vertebrate track assemblages

“…The resultant tracks from these simulations are relevant for studies of tracks where interpretations of locomotion have been made based on the 'pitch' of the track [57,65]. Such interpretations must consider as an alternative, or at least confounding factor, varying shear strength (as a function of water content) throughout the total substrate layer at the time of track formation, resulting in track pitch altering systematically along a trackway.…”

Dinosaur footprints from the Duntulm Formation (Bathonian, Jurassic) of the Isle of Skye

“…The divarication angle and pace angulation are all similar, but the smallest An Corran level A tracks are about the same size as the largest E. giganteus tracks, the pace is slightly shorter and the pace angulation appears to be higher at close to 180˚ (about 160˚ in E. giganteus (Upper Triassic-Lower Jurassic, North America) (Haubold 1971). In Megalosauripus (Upper Jurassic and Cretaceous of North America, Asia and Europe) (Lockley et al 1996a(Lockley et al , 1998a) the tracks have a similar divarication angle, but are slightly shorter (c. 35 cm) (Haubold 1971) although those from Oxfordshire are substantially larger, between 60 and 70 cm long (Day et al 2002a(Day et al , 2004. Megalosauripus tends to have a smaller pace angulation (110˚ for Late Jurassic Megalosauripus from Turkmenistan (Lockley et al 1996a) and 117˚ and 132˚ for the possible examples from the Middle Jurassic of Oxfordshire (Day et al 2002a(Day et al , 2004), although the pace is about the same length.…”

“…In Megalosauripus (Upper Jurassic and Cretaceous of North America, Asia and Europe) (Lockley et al 1996a(Lockley et al , 1998a) the tracks have a similar divarication angle, but are slightly shorter (c. 35 cm) (Haubold 1971) although those from Oxfordshire are substantially larger, between 60 and 70 cm long (Day et al 2002a(Day et al , 2004. Megalosauripus tends to have a smaller pace angulation (110˚ for Late Jurassic Megalosauripus from Turkmenistan (Lockley et al 1996a) and 117˚ and 132˚ for the possible examples from the Middle Jurassic of Oxfordshire (Day et al 2002a(Day et al , 2004), although the pace is about the same length. The diagnosis offered by Haubold (1971) suggests that the pace angulation can be as much as 140-160˚ in Megalosauripus.…”

“…Although Middle Jurassic tracks and trackways are rare, trackways of both sauropods and theropods have been recorded from Ardley Quarry in Oxfordshire, England (Day et al 2002a(Day et al ,b, 2004 and the Cleveland Basin, Yorkshire (Romano & Whyte 1996, 2003Whyte & Romano 2001a). The theropod tracks are larger than the An Corran tracks by between 10 and 20 cm and have a smaller pace angulation (about 117˚ for one trackway and 132˚ for another compared to the approximate 180˚ of at least one of the An Corran paired tracks (tracks 8, 9; see Table 2) and longer stride than those diagnostic of Megalosauripus (Haubold 1971) (about 300 cm compared to c. 200 cm for the An Corran tracks).…”

Pelvic and hind limb musculature of Staurikosaurus pricei (Dinosauria: Saurischia)

“…According to Lockley and Gillette (1989), studies of trackways dating from the 19 th century allowed the estimate of velocity (Alexander 1976, Farlow 1981, Day et al 2002 and posture (Coombs 1980, Ishigaki 1989, Thulborn 1989, Wade 1989, Jones et al 2000, Day et al 2002 of dinosaurs. Comparisons with living animals have often been used (e.g.…”