Nuevas publicaciones sobre las icnitas de dinosario de Asturias
En el último número de la revista científica francesa Oryctos, correspondiente a diciembre de 2008 el equipo de investigación del MUJA ha publicado dos artículos en los que estudian diversos aspectos de las huellas de dinosaurios y otros reptiles (pterosaurios, cocodrilos, lagartos y tortugas) de la costa asturiana.
El número 8 de Oryctos, revista publicada por el Museo de Dinosaurios de Espéraza (Musée des Dinosaures d’Espéraza) en el sur de Francia, recoge las actas del Simposio Internacional sobre Paleoicnología de dinosaurios y otros vertebrados (“International Symposium on dinosaurs and other vertebrates Palaeoichnology“) celebrado en Fumanya (Barcelona), del 4 al 8 de octubre de 2005.
El libro de resúmenes de dicho simposio puede descargarse en este enlace. Las actas recién publicadas incluyen un total de diez artículos, cuyos resúmenes se encuentran en la web de la revista Oryctos.
Dos de los artículos han sido realizados por el equipo de investigación del MUJA en colaboración con Marco Avanzini del Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Trento (Italia) y Martin Lockley del Museo de Huellas de Dinosaurio de la Universidad de Colorado en Denver (Estados Unidos). En los próximos días dedicaremos una noticia a cada uno de los artículos.
A continuación reproducimos los resúmenes en inglés de los mismos y algunas de las figuras que los ilustran. Para descargar los artículos en formato PDF (desde la página web de aragosaurus.com) pulse sobre el título.
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Martin Lockley, José Carlos Garcia-Ramos, Laura Pinuela & Marco Avanzini. 2008. A review of vertebrate track assemblages from the Late Jurassic of Asturias, Spain with comparative notes on coeval ichnofaunas from the western USA: implications for faunal diversity in siliciclastic facies assemblages. Oryctos 8, 53-70.
ABSTRACT: Upper Jurassic tetrapod tracks from Asturias (Spain) are similar to those from the famous Morrison Formation of the Rocky Mountain Region (western USA). Both regions provide evidence of diverse faunas comprising dinosaurs (theropods, sauropods and ornithischians), pterosaurs, crocodilians and turtles which indicate faunas consistent with known skeletal remains. Almost all these groups are represented by at least two, if not as many as four or more, distinctive track morphotypes, giving a cumulative ichno-diversity of at least 12-15 ichnotaxa. At least half of these are diagnostic to the ichnogenus level. Thus, the ichnofaunas provide a useful, generalized census of the Upper Jurassic faunas in these regions. Although there are some ambiguities about the probable identities of the makers of some tridactyl tracks, both assemblages are remarkably similar in overall composition. Most differences between the ichnofaunas reflect subtle distinctions that reflect differences in size and diversity within the major track groups. Some differences can also be attributed to preservational factors. The Asturian assemblages is dominated by isolated specimens from cliff outcrops in a small area, whereas the Morrison ichnofaunas is based on in situ sites from a very large area of more than 500,000 km2.
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Marco Avanzini, Laura Pinuela & José Carlos Garcia-Ramos. 2008. Theropod Palaeopathology inferred from a Late Jurassic trackway, Asturias (N. Spain). Oryctos 8, 71-75.
ABSTRACT: Although references to traumas and illness in dinosaur bones are very frequent, there are few reports about pathologies of these reptiles through studies of isolated footprints and trackways, and the majority of these refer to limping dinosaurs. The example presented here refers to a short theropod trackway of four consecutive footprints, preserved as convex epireliefs. Anomalous arrangement of the fourth digit in the right pedal prints suggests a pathology, although we can not determine if it is malformation or trauma due to fracture. The similarity in the pace length and angle suggests that if it is a fracture, this was produced a long time before as there is no evidence of limping in the reptile gait.
