REN Tian-long,WANG Yu-ye,NING Zhen-guo,SHEN Cai-zhi,ZHOU Xuan-yu,TANAKA Kohei,HUANG Yong-bo,ZHANG Cheng-jun & LÃ Jun-chang (2018)
The First Discovery of Dinosaur Eggs in Laixi Area of Qingdao, Shandong Province, and Sedimentary Environmental Analysis.
Acta Geoscientica Sinica 39(2):241-249
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The first discovery of dinosaur eggs from the Late Cretaceous Hongtuya Formation of Laixi area of Qingdao in Shandong Province is reported in this paper. The shape of the egg is round with a diameter of 11 cm. According to the microstructure of the egg shell, they are assigned to the oofamily Dendroolithidae, probably belonging to therizinosauroid dinosaurs. The sedimentary environment and rock geochemistry analysis suggest that the study area was mainly dominated by the river channel and flood plain sedimentary environments, probably a favorable nesting site for dinosaurs under the optimum palaeoclimatic condition. At the meantime, the discovery of therizinosauroid eggs provides a possibility to find therizinosauroid skeletons from this area in the future.
Hendrik Klein, Abdelouahed Lagnaoui, Gerard D. GierliÅski, Hafid Saber, Jens N. Lallensack, Mostafa Oukassou & Andrà CharriÃre (2018)
Crocodylomorph, turtle and mammal tracks in dinosaur-dominated Middleâ?Upper Jurassic and mid-Cretaceous ichnoassemblages of Morocco.
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (advance online publication)
Highlights
First report of a larger assemblage with crocodylomorph tracks from the Jurassic of Morocco.
First report of the Jurassic-Cretaceous turtle ichnogenus Emydhipus from the African continent.
First mammaliamorph footprints from Mesozoic strata of Morocco.
Abstract
We report tetrapod traces from two stratigraphic intervals in Morocco, and discuss their palaeoecological implications. In the first interval, crocodylomorph footprints assigned to Crocodylopodus meijidei are described from Middleâ?Upper Jurassic continental fluvial red beds of the Isli Formation in the Imilchil region, Central High Atlas, Morocco. These traces are associated with a diverse dinosaur-dominated ichnofauna, including the footprints of theropods, ornithischians, sauropods and pterosaurs, together with numerous invertebrate traces. In the second interval, we report crocodylomorph swim traces assigned to Hatcherichnus isp., turtle trackways assigned to Emydhipus isp. and isolated mammal footprints in the mid-Cretaceous Midelt Formation, in the High Moulouya region, Morocco. These traces are, also, associated with a diverse dinosaur-dominated ichnofauna including theropods and ornithopods as well as pterosaurs and abundant invertebrate traces. Together with plant remains, conchostracans and fishes, findings indicate a diverse community populating a fluvial-brackish environment.