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Three-dimensional preservation of foot movements in Triassic theropod dinosaurs

Nature volume 399, pages 141–144 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

Dinosaur footprints have been used extensively as biostratigraphic markers, environmental indicators, measures of faunal diversity and evidence of group behaviour1,2,3,4,. Trackways have also been used to estimate locomotor posture, gait and speed6,7,8,9,10,11, but most prints, being shallow impressions of a foot's plantar surface, provide little evidence of the details of limb excursion. Here we describe Late Triassic trackways from East Greenland, made by theropods walking on substrates of different consistency and sinking to variable depths, that preserve three-dimensional records of foot movement. Triassic theropod prints share many features with those of ground-dwelling birds, but also demonstrate significant functional differences in position of the hallux (digit I), foot posture and hindlimb excursion.

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Figure 1: The spectrum of theropod tracks preserved in the Triassic Fleming Fjord Formation of Greenland (a–f) is comparable to that produced by an extant bird (the helmeted guineafowl, Numida meleagris) (g–j).
Figure 2: Early, middle, and late phases in the formation of a turkey footprint in deep mud.
Figure 3: Three-dimensional computer reconstruction of theropod foot movements producing an elongate print in deep mud.

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Acknowledgements

We thank L. B. Clemmensen, the Danish Polar Center and the Commission for Scientific Research in Greenland for support of field work, L. L. Meszoly for rendering Fig. 1, M. A. Norell and A. R. Davidson for access to Coelophysis bauri (AMNH 7226), Alias/Wavefront for software support, and J. O. Farlow, J. R. Hutchinson, M. G. Lockley, P. E. Olsen, K. Padian, D. Norman and R. A. Thulborn for critical advice. This work was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the Carlsberg Foundation, and the Putnam Expeditionary Fund of Harvard University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, 02912, Rhode Island, USA

    Stephen M. Gatesy & Kevin M. Middleton

  2. Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, 02138, Massachusetts, USA

    Farish A. Jenkins Jr

  3. Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 19104, Pennsylvania, USA

    Neil H. Shubin

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  1. Stephen M. Gatesy
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Correspondence to Stephen M. Gatesy.

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Gatesy, S., Middleton, K., Jr, F. et al. Three-dimensional preservation of foot movements in Triassic theropod dinosaurs. Nature 399, 141–144 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/20167

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