Re: [dinosaur] Large bipedal crocodylomorph tracks from Cretaceous of Korea (free pdf)

[David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

...annnnnnd of course the paper isn't registered in ZooBank, so the new ichnospecies name is not available as the rules stand.

 

Reference 44, the description of Carnufex published in the same journal (in 2015), is registered. Too bad, actually, because the way Art. 32.5 is worded, that appears to remove any possibility of correcting the name: despite the paper's confident assertion that that's the Latin for "butcher", that's actually carnifex, and the form with u (which would hardly have been considered pronounceable) does not occur at all in the one online dictionary I've found (Lewis & Short through perseus.tufts.edu) – somebody must have copied a typo.

 

Concerning the actual topic, the authors discuss and refute the possibility that the bipedal tracks could be swim tracks. Consistently, the imprints show the entire foot in great detail, while swim tracks would be expected to consist mainly of claw scratches.

 

Gesendet: Donnerstag, 11. Juni 2020 um 19:09 Uhr
Von: "Ben Creisler" <bcreisler@gmail.com>
An: dinosaur-l@usc.edu
Betreff: [dinosaur] Large bipedal crocodylomorph tracks from Cretaceous of Korea (free pdf)

 

Ben Creisler

bcreisler@gmail.com

 

A new paper with free pdf:

 

Batrachopus grandis ichnosp. nov.

Kyung Soo Kim, Martin G. Lockley, Jong Deock Lim, Seul Mi Bae & Anthony Romilio (2020)
Trackway evidence for large bipedal crocodylomorphs from the Cretaceous of Korea.
Scientific Reports 10, Article number: 8680
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-66008-7
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-66008-7

Free pdf:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-66008-7.pdf

Abstract
Large well-preserved crocodylomorph tracks from the Lower Cretaceous (? Aptian) Jinju Formation of South Korea, represent the well-known crocodylomorph ichnogenus Batrachopus. The Korean sample includes multiple, narrow-gauge, pes-only trackways with footprint lengths (FL) 18–24 cm, indicating trackmaker body lengths up to ~3.0 m. Surprisingly, the consistent absence of manus tracks in trackways, with well-preserved digital pad and skin traces, argues for bipedal trackmakers, here assigned to Batrachopus grandis ichnosp. nov. No definitive evidence, either from pes-on-manus overprinting or poor track preservation, suggests the trackways where made by quadrupeds that only appear bipedal. This interpretation helps solve previous confusion over interpretation of enigmatic tracks of bipeds from younger (? Albian) Haman Formation sites by showing they are not pterosaurian as previously inferred. Rather, they support the strong consensus that pterosaurs were obligate quadrupeds, not bipeds. Lower Jurassic Batrachopus with foot lengths (FL) in the 2–8 cm range, and Cretaceous Crocodylopodus (FL up to ~9.0 cm) known only from Korea and Spain registered narrow gauge trackways indicating semi-terrestrial/terrestrial quadrupedal gaits. Both ichnogenera, from ichnofamily Batrachopodidae, have been attributed to Protosuchus-like semi-terrestrial crocodylomorphs. The occurrence of bipedal B. grandis ichnosp. nov. is evidence of such adaptations in the Korean Cretaceous.