Objective
Despite a large number of bird fossils in the Jehol Biota,
Mesozoic bird records from other parts of China are
dominated by tracks. Late Cretaceous bird tracks are
rarely found in China. Reliable reports so far include a
Dongyangornipes and Koreanaornis assemblage of early
Late Cretaceous age from Dongyang City, Zhejiang
Province, China (Azuma et al., 2013). Buckley et al.
(2016) consider Dongyangornipes sinensis a subjective
junior synonym of Uhangrichnus chuni. Type
Uhangrichnus chuni (Yang et al. 1995; Lockley et al.,
2012) from the Uhangri Formation, Hwangsan Basin of
South Korea is Late Cretaceous in age, and the trackmaker
was a web-footed avian.
In 1972, the Tibet Geology Bureau discovered a series
of Late Cretaceous dinosaur tracks at the Dongga coal
mine. But they were subsequently considered to be
Cenozoic large bird footprints (Xing et al., 2013). Bird
footprints were also reported from Late Cretaceous
deposits in the Gupei Basin in Anhui Province (Jin and
Yan, 1994), but then re-interpreted as an Early Cretaceous
record (Xing et al., 2018).
In July 2017, a team from China University of
Geosciences (Beijing) found some invertebrate traces and
vertebrate tracks on a hill (GPS: 31°13'53.35"N, 95°
57'18.95"E, altitude 3739 m) east of Jue’en Township,
Dingqing County, Changdu City, Tibet Autonomous
Region. According to the 1:250000 scale geologic
mapping of Dingqingfu area (No. H46C001004), the
Jue’en site belongs to the Upper Cretaceous Bada
Formation, consisting of interbedded purple red siltstone,
fine-grain lithic quartz sandstone, micrite and dolomicrite
in variable thickness, and has yielded abundant gastropod
fossils (Wang et al., 2013).
Results
Koreanaornipodidae Lockley et al., 2006
Koreanaornis Kim, 1969
Type ichnospecies. Koreanaornis hamanensis Kim,
1969, Lockley et al., 1992 emend.
Diagnosis. Small, tetradactyl bird tracks with small
hallux impressions occasionally present. Digit traces
typically separate (i.e., not connected proximally). Claw
traces variably present, slender, and obscure. Trackways
exhibit inward (positive) rotation of the tracks. Tracks
wider than long, with widths ranging from 2.5ԟ4.4 cm.
Divarication between digits II and IV averaging about
120° (Lockley et al., 1992).
Material. Two natural molds cataloged as JE-B1-1L
and 1R, from the Jue’en track site (Fig. 1) and stored in
China University of Geosciences (Beijing).
Description. Small, tridactyl bird tracks lacking hallux
impressions. JE-B1-1L lacks digit IV trace. JE-B1-1R is
well-preserved. Digit III trace is the longest; digit II trace
is the widest, and digit IV trace only preserves its distal
end. Digital pad impressions are absent. The digit II trace
is broader than those representing digits III and IV. The
maximum length of JE-B1-1L is 2.7 cm and maximum
width is 2.7 cm. The length:width ratio is 1.0. The average
divarication angle between digits II and IV is 92°. The
divarication angles between digits II and III (56°) are
larger than those between digits III and IV (36°). The pace
First Report of Avian Tracks from the Cretaceous of Tibet, China
XING Lida
1, 2, 3
, CHOU Chunyong
2, *
, Martin G. LOCKLEY
4
, YANGCHEN Dolkar
5
,
CHEN Xingru
2
, MA Xinghong
6
, ZHOU Wenjun
2
and XU Hantian
2
1 State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences,
Beijing 100083, China
2 School of the Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China
3 State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
4 Dinosaur Tracks Museum, University of Colorado Denver PO Box 173364, Denver, CO 80217, USA
5 School of Geophysics and Information Technology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083,
China
6 School of Land Science and Technology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China
Vol. 91 No. 6 pp.2312–2313 ACTA GEOLOGICA SINICA (English Edition) Dec. 2017
* Corresponding author. E-mail: chouchuny@cugb.edu.cn
© 2017 Geological Society of China
Research Advances