First Report of Aquatilavipes from Korea: New Finds from Cretaceous Strata in the Yeosu Islands Archipelago

Abstract

Cretaceous bird tracks assigned to the ichnogenera Aquatilavipes and Koreanaornis are reported for the first time from Sado Island in the Yeosu Island archipelago, Korea, an area already known for multiple dinosaur track-bearing horizons. The Koreanaornis tracks are associated with many small Cochlichnus trails attributed to nematode worms, on which the birds were likely feeding in a lake shoreline environment. The Koreanaornis and Aquatilavipes assemblages occur at different, albeit close, stratigraphic levels. The Aquatilavipes report is the first from Korea.

Keywords:

• Cretaceous
• Korea
• Bird
• Dinosaur
• Footprints

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The research was funded by a grant from the Korean Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF RO1-2008-000-20056-0) and partly supported by the BK 21 project of the Korean Government. We thank Jerry Harris (Dixie College, St. George, Utah) and Henrik Klein (Neumarkt, Germany) for their helpful reviews, and we thank spencer Lucas (New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science) for his work as guest editor of this issue.