Naturwissenschaften (2003) 90:572–576 DOI 10.1007/s00114-003-0477-5 SHORT COMMUNICATION Theagarten Lingham-Soliar · Tim Broderick · Ali Ait Kaci Ahmed Closely associated theropod trackways from the Jurassic of Zimbabwe Received: 30 May 2003 / Accepted: 5 September 2003 / Published online: 15 October 2003  Springer-Verlag 2003 Abstract Eighty-eight tracks of large theropod dinosaurs were found in the mid-Jurassic of Zimbabwe. Among the tracks, at least five adjacent trackways are recorded. The adjacent tracks were probably made by animals traveling as a group, given that they are in relatively close succession; that there are three overlapping tracks (among just 23) suggesting reasonably close associations of the animals; that all the tracks are apparently of the same ichnotaxon; that the preservational types of the tracks are similar; and that the tracks are all of animals traveling in one general direction closely associated in time (there are no returning tracks of the same animals or of those of other species; presence of such tracks would be highly probable if the tracks were made over a period of time of even several hours). Nearby, recently discovered giant sauropod tracks, the first in sub-Saharan Africa, indicate a realistic potential of predator/prey interactions between the two groups of dinosaurs. Introduction Four new Mid-Late Jurassic dinosaur track sites were recently discovered in the Ntumbe area, Zimbabwe. They occupy an area no more than 400 m long by 150 m wide in micaceous sandstone beds closely related in time. The location is about 400–500 m northwest of the first trackway found (site 1; e.g. Broderick 1985) and falls on the Kachowe 1/50,000 scale toposheet (1629 B2), 3000 0 E and 1610 0 S. Ninety-four footprints were found in total, 88 of large theropod dinosaurs and 6 of large sauropods. The present report concentrates on one of the four new sites (site 5) occupying an area 0.6 km 2 . It contains 45 tracks of a large theropod dinosaur taxon (Figs. 1, 2) and includes at least 5 closely associated trackways. Track sites 2 and 4 contain 43 similar theropod tracks. Site 3 contains 6 sauropod tracks. The sauropod footprints (Ait-Kaci Ahmed and Mukan- di 2001), the first found in sub-Saharan Africa, are mentioned briefly in terms of the paleobiology of the region. Geology The Ntumbe trackway locality lies within strata of the post-Karoo Dande Sandstone Formation (Fig. 2d), the beds of which are correlative to those of the Kadzi area (Raath and McIntosh 1987). A recent study (Ait-Kaci Ahmed and Mukandi 2001) indicates that the Ntumbe strata has a Middle to Upper Jurassic affinity as opposed to Early Jurassic (Lingham-Soliar and Broderick 2000). More detailed geology is presented by Ait-Kaci Ahmed and Mukandi (2001 and references therein). The sedimentary sub-environment of the Ntumbe dinosaur tracks Oesterlen and Millsteed (1994) note the development of bituminous mudstones that indicate a shallow-water lake (or quiet overbank) sub-environment where crusts of gypsum and possibly halite reflect periodic aridity. Ripple marks and desiccation features on alternate beds, and sometimes on the same bed, show that periodic precip- itation occurred in this semi-arid to arid environment (Collinson 1986). The dinosaur footprints were preserved in an overbank adjacent to the river channel in which T. Lingham-Soliar ( ) ) Department of Zoology, University of Durban-Westville, Private Bag X54001, 4000 Durban, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa e-mail: lsoliar@pixie.udw.ac.za Fax: +27-31-2044790 T. Broderick Makari, 19 Jenkinson Road, Chisipite, Harare, Zimbabwe A. Ait Kaci Ahmed Geological Survey of Zimbabwe, The Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe