Ben Creisler
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The Lamy Quarry (= the Gunter bonebed) is known for its extensive accumulation of temnospondyl skulls and skeletons from the Norian (Upper Triassic) Garita Creek Formation, south of Lamy, New Mexico. Although the quarry is monodominant for metoposaurids, reptile fossils are also present. The reptile material, briefly described and identified to least-inclusive taxonomic levels, consists of several diagnostic elements from azendohsaurid and tanystropheid archosauromorphs based on apomorphies observed in the fossils. The most remarkable materials are two anterior cervical vertebrae and the posterior portion of a hemimandible that are identified as belonging to a Malerisaurus-like taxon within the Azendohsauridae. The vertebrae are two times longer than the holotype material of Malerisaurus robinsonae Chatterjee, 1980 and Malerisaurus langstoniChatterjee, 1986, which suggests that azendohsaurids in the Late Triassic of North America reached much larger sizes than previously documented. The presence of a tanystropheid and azendohsaurid together supports the Adamanian age of the Garita Creek Formation and shows that azendohsaurids were present in what is now New Mexico.
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Coarse-grained sediments deposited in high-energy environments are usually considered unfavorable to the preservation of fossil tracks. Here we report dinosaur footprints showing good physical preservation, despite being found in coarse-grained sandstones of alluvial origin from the Upper Triassic of ArdÃche, southeastern France. The ichnoassemblage, dominated by Grallator isp., raises questions about the processes leading to the formation and preservation of tracks in coarse-grained sediments. The track-bearing surface is a medium- to coarse-grained quartz arenite that is microconglomeratic locally. The tracking surface grain size ranges from 0.2 to 2 mm and numerous pebbles are present. It is overlain by a succession of thin, intercalated layers of claystones and siltstones, themselves covered by a mix of siltstones and coarse-grained sandstones. We interpret this succession as a progressive decrease in energy due to channel migration culminating in channel abandonment, and the establishment of a lower energy setting where the tracking surface formed. Sedimentological and taphonomic observations indicate that the trackmakers walked on fine-grained layers (clay, silt) in which true tracks formed. The passage of the animals along the tracking surface deformed the older coarse-grained sand layers and resulted in the formation of the transmitted undertracks. The fine-grained layer helped record the pedal anatomy of the trackmakers and contributed to protecting the transmitted undertracks from destruction. Overall, we suggest that the fossil footprints were preserved by abiotic processes only, the main factor being the lithological contrast between successive sedimentary layers. The exceptional preservation of those relatively high quality undertracks in coarse-grained deposits contrasts sharply with the prevailing models of true track formation involving fine-grained sediments and microbial mats present in low-energy environments. This mode of undertrack formation may have been relatively frequent elsewhere but potentially overlooked in previous studies.
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