Minisauripus
| Minisauripus Temporal range:
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| File:Jinju Formation Minisauripus.webp | |
| Minisauripus isp. from Jinju Formation | |
Trace fossil classification 
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| Ichnogenus: | †Minisauripus Zhen et al., 1995 |
| Type ichnospecies | |
| †Minisauripus chuanzhuensis Zhen et al., 1995
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| Other ichnospecies | |
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Minisauripus is an ichnogenus of theropod dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous of East Asia. The trackmaker of Minisauripus would have been among the smallest known non-avian dinosaurs. This ichnogenus contains two named ichnospecies from China, M. chuanzhuensis and M. zhenshuonani, with several indeterminate ichnospecies known from China, South Korea and Japan.
Discovery
[edit | edit source]The type ichnospecies M. chuanzhuensis was first described in 1995 from the Early Cretaceous Jiaguan Formation of Sichuan, China.[1] The second ichnospecies M. zhensuonani was described in 2008 from the Tianjialou Formation (Barremian-Albian) of Shandong, China.[2] Trace fossils from the Haman Formation (Albian) of South Korea were referred to as M. cf. zhenshuonani or M. cf. chuanzhuensis.[2] Other trace fossils attributed to M. isp. were discovered from the Feitianshan Formation of China, the Jinju Formation (Albian) of South Korea and the Kitadani Formation (Aptian) of Japan.[3][4][5]
Classification
[edit | edit source]About 95 tracks have been attributed to Minisauripus, and over 80% of them were less than 3 cm (1.2 in) long. The abundance of such small footprints might suggest that the trackmaker of Minisauripus was a small non-avian theropod, not a juvenile of a larger taxon.[4] The Minisauripus tracks show three distinct toes, unlike the tracks of similar-sized small dromaeosaurids such as Dromaeosauriformipes, which are didactyl, with the recurved claw on the second toe being held off the ground and thus not preserved in the trackway.[6]
See also
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References
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