Middle Jurassic tetrapod burrows preserved in association with the large sauropod Omeisaurus jiaoi from the Sichuan Basin, China

Abstract

Here we report a Jurassic tetrapod burrow preserved in association with the partial skeleton of a large sauropod specimen of Omeisaurus jiaoi from Zigong, Sichuan Province, China. The ichnofossil can be divided into two parts, which may indicate two individual trace makers and some social behavior, although the possibility that they are two portions of one trace by a single trace maker cannot be ruled out. The burrow trace was examined via petrographic thin sections and carbonate analysis. Considering the spatial relationship of the burrows and the skeleton, it is likely that decomposition of the sauropod carcass preceded the formation of the burrows. It is possible that the process of decomposition improved the humus level of the soil, which would have attracted more soil-dwelling invertebrates and, by consequence, tetrapod predators thereof. The discovery of ZDM5051 has increased our understanding of global ichnofossil diversity.

Keywords:

• Tetrapod burrows
• sauropod
• Sichuan Basin
• China

Acknowledgments

The authors thank two anonymous reviewers for their critical comments and suggestions on this paper.