Ornithischian tracks from the Middle Jurassic of the Junggar Basin, Xinjiang, Northwest China

ABSTRACT

An assemblage of small, Middle Jurassic tracks from the Xishanyao Formation, located about 100 km west of Urumqi in the Junggar Basin, Xinjiang Province, is here designated the Nanshan site. The site reveals three ornithischian trackways identified as Anomoepus. These represent the eleventh report of the ichnogenus from the Jurassic of China. Two of the trackways show diagnostic hallux traces and indicate bipedal progression. A third indicates a quadrupedal gait. The biostratigraphic distribution of Anomoepus, and Anomoepus-like tracks indicates that they predominate in the Lower and Middle Jurassic of China and are rare in younger deposits. This distribution is consistent with that reported from North America and Europe.

KEYWORDS:

• Anomoepus
• Xishanyao formation
• biostratigraphy

Acknowledgments

We thank Huifei Tao (Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China) and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and proposals for improvements.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s)

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41772008).