Pterosaur tracks from Alaska

[Ben Creisler <bcreisler@gmail.com>]

Ben Creisler
bcreisler@gmail.com

A new online paper:

A.R. Fiorillo, Y. Kobayashi, P.J. McCarthy, T.C. Wright & C.S. Tomsich (2014)
Pterosaur tracks from the Lower Cantwell Formation
(Campanian–Maastrichtian) of Denali National Park, Alaska, USA, with
comments about landscape heterogeneity and habit preferences.
Historical Biology (advance online publication)
DOI:10.1080/08912963.2014.933213
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2014.933213#.VDRdlfldXTo

We report on new records of pterosaur tracks from Alaska. Recent
palaeontological investigations in the Lower Cantwell Formation of
Denali National Park, central Alaska Range, Alaska, had resulted
previously in the discovery of a single pterosaur manus track.
Subsequent and ongoing investigation has shown that the track record
for pterosaurs in this region is more robust. These new pterosaur
records comprise large and small traces. The larger tracks are up to
approximately 18 cm long and 6 cm wide. The smaller tracks are
approximately 6 cm long and 4 cm wide. The assemblage of pterosaur
traces from Denali National Park consists of manus impressions. The
morphology of the pterosaur traces found in the Lower Cantwell
Formation compares favourably with the morphology of the ichnogenus
Pteraichnus. The presence of two very different body sizes of
pterosaurs, along with the abundant record of fossil bird tracks,
indicates the presence of ecological complexity among aerial
vertebrates during the time that the sediments of the Lower Cantwell
Formation were deposited. Sedimentological and palaeobotanical data,
combined with the vertebrate ichnology record, offer details into how
these aerial vertebrates were separated within this heterogenetic
ecosystem.

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Also, the following advance paper (posted earlier) is now in open access:

Fabio M. Dalla Vecchia, Robert Bosch, Josep Fortuny & Àngel Galobart (2014)
The pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil at
the CosmoCaixa Science Museum (Barcelona, Spain).
Historical Biology (advance online publication)
DOI:10.1080/08912963.2014.961449
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2014.961449#.VC1u-PldXTo