Komlosaurus
Temporal range: Hettangian-Sinemurian
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Trace fossil classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Genus: †Komlosaurus
Kordos, 1983
Type ichnospecies
†Komlosaurus carbonis
Kordos, 1983

Komlosaurus ("Komlo lizard") is an ichnogenus of theropod dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of Baranya, Hungary. The type species, Komlosaurus carbonis, was described by Kordos in 1983. The type remains come from the Mecsek Coal Formation, from the Middle Hettangian to the Early Sinemurian, and comprise several footprints.

Outdated restoration as an ornithischian

Description

In the Hettangian/Sinemurian deposits of the Komló area (Mecsek Mountain, Hungary), footprints of Jurassic dinosaurs assigned to the ichnospecies K. carbonis are the only published palaeontological data of vertebrates in this region; however, several fossils of plants and pollen has been discovered there.[1] The footprints, which form tracks, occur in several levels on bedding planes of fine-grained sediments.[2][3][4][5][6] The largest occurrence of fossils is at the Karolina and Vasas strip mines in the Mecsek Mountain nearby Pécs. The footprints collection of Komlosaurus can be seen at the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary, with a few specimens in the Local History Museum of Komló, Hungary.

Classification

Komlosaurus was classified originally as an ichnogenus of an ornithopod dinosaur,[2] but new traces found (the specimens Muz. PIG 1624.II.1, 1624.II.2, 1624.II.3 and 1624.II.4) led to consider Komlosaurus as footprints made by a theropod, and also as a possible synonym for other dinosaur ichnogenus, assigning the smaller footprints to Grallator tuberosus and the larger, thinner ones to Kayentapus soltykovensis.[7] The findings made in 1988 in the Karolina valley allowed recover two separate traces of the area, which have several morphological differences with respect both to Grallator and Kayentapus, the reason why is considered that Komlosaurus is enough different in respect to the more robust grallatorids tracks to be a valid ichnogenus. The traces of Komlosaurus are characterized by being tridactyle, with long and thin fingers, with frequently curved impressions, with a division angle between the II-IV digits of 72 degrees, even with impressions of the footpad and the hallux. The abundance of traces, the variation in size of the individuals (with footprints between 9.5 and 26 centimeters long, and 7 to 16 centimeters wide), the similar stride velocity of them - from 6 to 14 kilometers per hour - and the fact that they possess the same type of preservation suggests that these animals moved in groups.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Ősi, A., Pálfy, J., Makádi, L., Szentesi, Z., Gulyás, P., Rabi, M., Botfalvai, G. & Hips, K. (2011). Hettangian (Early Jurassic) Dinosaur Tracksites from the Mecsek Mountains, Hungary. Ichnos, 18(2), 79-94.
  2. 1 2 Kordos, L. (1983). "Fontosabb szórványleletek a máfi gerinces-gyüjteményében (8. közlemény)" [Major finds of scattered fossils in the paleovertebrate collection of the Hungarian Geological Institute (communication no. 8)]. A Magyar Állami Földtani Intézet Évi Jelentése. 120: 503–511.
  3. ↑ Lockley, M. G.; Meyer, Christian (13 August 2013). Dinosaur Tracks and Other Fossil Footprints of Europe. Columbia University Press. pp. 115–. ISBN 978-0-231-50460-7.
  4. ↑ Instytut Geologiczny (Poland), Geological quarterly, Volume 40. 1996
  5. ↑ "Komlosaurus carbonis Kordos 1983". Gni.globalnames.org. 2009-09-27. Retrieved 2016-12-04.
  6. ↑ "TDWG". Lsid.tdwg.org. Retrieved 2016-12-04.
  7. ↑ Società geologica italiana, Bollettino della Società geologica italiana, Volume 124. 2005
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