Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/56218
Title: The dinosaur tracks of Tyrants Aisle: An Upper Cretaceous ichnofauna from Unit 4 of the Wapiti Formation (upper Campanian), Alberta, Canada
Contributor(s): Enriquez, Nathan J (author); Campione, Nicolas E  (author)orcid ; White, Matt A  (author)orcid ; Fanti, Federico (author); Sissons, Robin L (author); Sullivan, Corwin (author); Vavrek, Matthew J (author); Bell, Phil R  (author)orcid 
Publication Date: 2022-02-02
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0262824
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/56218
Abstract: 

The Wapiti Formation of northwest Alberta and northeast British Columbia, Canada, preserves an Upper Cretaceous terrestrial vertebrate fauna that is latitudinally situated between those documented further north in Alaska and those from southern Alberta and the contiguous U.S.A. Therefore, the Wapiti Formation is important for identifying broad patterns in vertebrate ecology, diversity, and distribution across Laramidia during the latest Cretaceous. Tracksites are especially useful as they provide a range of palaeoecological, palaeoenvironmental, and behavioural data that are complementary to the skeletal record. Here, we describe the Tyrants Aisle locality, the largest in-situ tracksite known from the Wapiti Formation. The site occurs in the lower part of Unit 4 of the formation (~72.5 Ma, upper Campanian), exposed along the southern bank of the Redwillow River. More than 100 tracks are documented across at least three distinct track-bearing layers, which were deposited on an alluvial floodplain. Hadrosaurid tracks are most abundant, and are referable to Hadrosauropodus based on track width exceeding track length, broad digits, and rounded or bilobed heel margins. We suggest the hadrosaurid trackmaker was Edmontosaurus regalis based on stratigraphic context. Tyrannosaurids, probable troodontids, possible ornithomimids, and possible azhdarchid pterosaurs represent minor but notable elements of the ichnofauna, as the latter is unknown from skeletal remains within the Wapiti Formation, and all others are poorly represented. Possible social behaviour is inferred for some of the hadrosaurid and small theropod-like trackmakers based on trackway alignment, suitable spacing and consistent preservation. On a broad taxonomic level (i.e., family or above), ichnofaunal compositions indicate that hadrosaurids were palaeoecologically dominant across Laramidia during the late Campanian within both high-and low-latitude deposits, although the role of depositional environment requires further testing.

Publication Type: Journal Article
Source of Publication: PLoS One, 17(2), p. 1-45
Publisher: Public Library of Science
Place of Publication: United States of America
ISSN: 1932-6203
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 040308 Palaeontology (incl. Palynology)
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 370506 Palaeontology (incl. palynology)
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 970104 Expanding Knowledge in the Earth Sciences
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 280107 Expanding knowledge in the earth sciences
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article
School of Environmental and Rural Science

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