New interpretations of Ignotornis, the first-reported Mesozoic avian footprints: implications for the paleoecology and behavior of an enigmatic Cretaceous bird

Lockley, Martin G.; Chin, Karen; Houck, Karen J.; Matsukawa, Masaki; Kukihara, Reiji

doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2009.04.001

Cited by 35 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Kim et al (2006) emended this diagnosis to include the presence of webbing impressions. Lockley et al (2009) noted that the webbing impressions are more pronounced between digits III and IV than between digits II and III.…”

Section: Anisodactyl Tracksmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…The study of fossil bird tracks is also thriving (e.g. Lockley et al 1992Lockley et al , 2003Lockley et al , 2006Lockley et al , 2009Azuma et al 2002;Coria et al 2002;Lockley & Rainforth 2002;Kim et al 2006;Zhang et al 2006;De Valais & Merchon 2008;Anfinson et al 2009;Falkingham et al 2009), providing additional information on biodiversity as well as the opportunity for direct insight into ancient avian behaviour.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Bird tracks from the Upper Cretaceous Cantwell Formation of Denali National Park, Alaska, USA: a new perspective on ancient northern polar vertebrate biodiversity

Fiorillo

Hasiotis

Kobayashi

et al. 2011

Journal of Systematic Palaeontology

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The Upper Cretaceous Cantwell Formation in Denali National Park and Preserve (DENA), Alaska, contains an unparalleled fossil avian biodiversity. The Cantwell Formation, thousands of metres thick, was deposited near its current latitude and is exposed throughout much of DENA and elsewhere in the central Alaska Range. The Formation comprises a lower, dominantly fluvial sedimentary unit and an upper, mostly volcanic unit. Sedimentation of the lower unit was mainly in alluvial fan, braided and meandering stream, and lacustrine environments, with possible marginal-marine influence at times. Pollen data suggest that these sedimentary rocks are late Campanian or early Maastrichtian in age; thus the Cantwell Formation is correlative with other well-known dinosaur localities in Alaska. Bird tracks are preserved in multiple locations along a 40-km transect in DENA in fluvial and lacustrine deposits. Some bird tracks are found in association with dinosaur tracks and others are found on beds interbedded with dinosaur track-bearing layers. The approximate body sizes of the birds based on tracks show a range from sparrow-to heron-sized birds (∼25-30% larger than the modern Sandhill Crane Grus canadensis). The Cantwell Formation contains footprints assigned to several ichnotaxa found in either Asia or North America based on such morphological criteria as the presence or absence of a hallux, print size and shape, and angle of divarication: Aquatilavipes swiboldae, Ignotornis mcconnelli, Magnoavipes denaliensis sp. nov., Gruipeda vegrandiunus sp. nov. and Uhangrichnus chuni. The presence of a mixed Asian and North American ichnofauna suggests that at least some birds used Alaska as a bridge between Asia and North America. This diverse assemblage of avian traces, combined with the known fossil bone record and invertebrate trace fossil record, demonstrates that the northern Late Cretaceous polar region contained significant biodiversity.

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Section: Anisodactyl Tracksmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Bird tracks from the Upper Cretaceous Cantwell Formation of Denali National Park, Alaska, USA: a new perspective on ancient northern polar vertebrate biodiversity

Fiorillo

Hasiotis

Kobayashi

et al. 2011

Journal of Systematic Palaeontology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In addition, the authors experimented by varying sediment conditions and the interdigital angles; they found that a webbed track only occurs under a very narrow set of sediment conditions. This raises doubt about whether certain tracks always show interdigital membranes; given the approximate nature of the results offered by this method, however, opinion is divided about their validity: Anfinson et al (2009) andLockley et al (2009) do not accept the results, whilst others, such as Sellers et al (2009), support them. Falkingham (2010 showed that three factors are involved in the formation of animal tracks, namely: the force applied (weight of the animal), the substrate (its type and state) and the anatomy of the autopod (silhouette and base).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Fossil Vertebrate Tracks as Paleopenetrometers: Confounding Effects of Foot Morphology

Falkingham¹,

Margetts²,

Manning³

2010

PALAIOS

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“…This ichnospecies was only the second formally named from the Cretaceous of North America, the first being Ignotornis mcconnelli, from the Late Albian to Early Cenomanian Dakota Group of Colorado (Mehl, 1931a,b;Lockley et al, 2009). Despite the abundance of dinosaur tracks in the Dakota Group, now known from more than 120 sites, mostly in Colorado (Lockley et al, 2014c), there are still very few reports of bird tracks from that unit.…”

Section: Accepted M M a N U mentioning

confidence: 96%

First report of bird tracks (Aquatilavipes) from the Cedar Mountain Formation (Lower Cretaceous), eastern Utah

Lockley

Buckley

Foster³

et al. 2015

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

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New interpretations of Ignotornis, the first-reported Mesozoic avian footprints: implications for the paleoecology and behavior of an enigmatic Cretaceous bird

Cited by 35 publications

References 23 publications

Bird tracks from the Upper Cretaceous Cantwell Formation of Denali National Park, Alaska, USA: a new perspective on ancient northern polar vertebrate biodiversity

Bird tracks from the Upper Cretaceous Cantwell Formation of Denali National Park, Alaska, USA: a new perspective on ancient northern polar vertebrate biodiversity

Fossil Vertebrate Tracks as Paleopenetrometers: Confounding Effects of Foot Morphology

First report of bird tracks (Aquatilavipes) from the Cedar Mountain Formation (Lower Cretaceous), eastern Utah

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