Lisa G. Buckley

Independent Palaeontologist

This is the first report of the webbed bird tracks from the middle part of the Jinju Formation (Lower Cretaceous: upper Aptian–lower Albian) in Bito Island, Seopo-myeon, Sacheon City, Gyeongnam, South Korea. Although it is well known that the avian tracks are very abundant and diverse in the Cretaceous Hayang and Yucheon groups of the Gyeongsang Su...

The Ignotornidae had a global distribution during the Cretaceous (Aptian – Cenomanian), but reports have been limited to North America, and localities in South Korea. Until recently, despite the high diversity of Ignotornidae described from Asia, no ichnospecies of Ignotornidae have been described from China. Here we report the first occurrence of...

Ignotornidae is an avian vertebrate ichnofamily known from the Lower to middle Cretaceous (Aptian – Cenomanian) of North America (Colorado) and South Korea. The ichnogenus Ignotornis was first described from North America; however, in the eight decades since no Ignotornidae have been described from North America, and hitherto none have been reporte...

Previously-unknown large scale scrapes attributed to Cretaceous theropod dinosaurs from the Naturita Formation (formerly the Dakota Sandstone) of western Colorado were recently named as Ostendichnus bilobatus and interpreted as evidence of “nest scrape display,” a type of courtship behavior previously known only in extant avians. However, comparati...

Initial work (McCrea, 2000; McCrea et al., 2014) outlined several possible novel footprint morphotypes of shorebirds from the Gates Formation (Early Cretaceous: Albian) from within the open pit coal mine near the community of Grande Cache, Alberta. Royal Tyrrell Museum specimen RTM 2016.036.0003 is a track slab preserving the natural casts of two d...

There are a growing number of Early Cretaceous avian tracks and trackways from around the world, with Asia (China and Korea) having the largest reported number and diversity of Mesozoic avian traces to date, and these new discoveries are increasing the Early Cretaceous avian ichnodivesrity of Laurasia. Here we report on a new Lower Cretaceous avian...

Several new ichnotaxa of avian tracks have been described in recent years, adding to the known ichnodiversity of Cretaceous avians. The naming of new avian ichnospecies and ichnogenera has resulted in the creation of several avian ichnofamilies, but due to the challenges of documenting bird tracks, there are several ichnogenera that to date remain...

Relationships between non-avian theropod dinosaurs and extant and fossil birds are a major focus of current paleobiological research. Despite extensive phylogenetic and morphological support, behavioural evidence is mostly ambiguous and does not usually fossilize. Thus, inferences that dinosaurs, especially theropods displayed behaviour analogous t...

The historically-famous Lotus Fortress site, a deep 1.5-3.0-meter-high, 200-meter-long horizonal notch high up in near-vertical sandstone cliffs comprising the Cretaceous Jiaguan Formation, has been known since the 13th Century as an impregnable defensive position. The site is also extraordinary for having multiple tetrapod track-bearing levels, of...

Literature concerning dinosaur footprints or trackways exhibiting abnormal gait or morphology reflecting pathology (ichnopathology) is rare. We report on a number of Jurassic and Cretaceous occurrences of theropod footprints from western North America with unusual morphologies interpreted herein as examples of inferred pathologies, or ichnopatholog...

One of the goals of vertebrate ichnology is to use trace fossils as an additional source of data to determine the palaeoecological makeup of vertebrate paleoecosystems. The features in both the synapomorphy-based and phenetic-based methods of attributing a trace to an osteologic trackmaker are those that are affected by preservational conditions, c...

Although the type section of the Morrison Formation, near Denver Colorado, now also well-known as Dinosaur Ridge, has since 1877 been world-famous as the source of iconic Late Jurassic dinosaurs like Stegosaurus, Apatosaurus and Diplodocus, little detailed information has been published on fossil footprints from the formation this area. Late Jurass...

This is the first detailed report of vertebrate tracks from alluvial plain deposits of the Boulder Creek Formation (Lower Cretaceous: middle to ?upper Albian) from outcrop exposures in northeastern British Columbia. Several in situ dinosaur tracks observed in vertical section are described, as well as the recovery and description of an isolated tra...

Trace fossils provide the only records of Early Cretaceous birds from many parts of the world. The identification of traces from large avian track-makers is made difficult given their overall similarity in size and tridactyly in comparison with traces of small non-avian theropods. Reanalysis of Wupus agilis from the Early Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian)...

A goal of vertebrate ichnology is to use trace fossils as an additional source of data to determine the palaeoecological makeup of vertebrate paleoecosystems. Vertebrate paleoichnology often involves the identification of a potential track-maker of a trace (footprint, trackway, etc.) and, when logically applied, vertebrate traces can augment paleog...

New reports of dinosaur tracksites in the Tuchengzi Formation in the newly established Yanqing Global Geopark, Beijing, China, support previous inferences that the track assemblages from this formation are saurischian-dominated. More specifically, the assemblages appear theropod-dominated, with the majority of well-preserved tracks conforming to th...

More than 130 footprints representing ~ 43 trackways of birds (avian theropods) and two non-avian theropods occur as seven separate assemblages on loose blocks recovered from the Poison Strip Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation, near the Stikes Quarry locality in eastern Utah. Six of assemblages, four with bird tracks and two with small non avia...

The record of Paleogene bird traces is quite scarce, especially when compared with the Mesozoic. Avian tracks have been reported mainly from western North America and the Middle East, with some sites also present in Europe and Sumatra. Here the first record of Eocene bird tracks from East Asia is reported. The track bearing level is recorded at the...

The skeletal record of tyrannosaurids is well-documented, whereas their footprint record is surprisingly sparse. There are only a few isolated footprints attributed to tyrannosaurids and, hitherto, no reported trackways. We report the world’s first trackways attributable to tyrannosaurids, and describe a new ichnotaxon attributable to tyrannosaurid...

The past quarter century has seen a marked increase in the recognition of fossil vertebrate tracksites in western Canada. Most of these finds were made in Alberta and British Columbia, but the Yukon Territory can lay claim to at least one tracksite and probably has the potential to yield more sites. The record of dinosaur tracks with skin impressio...

The past quarter century has seen a marked increase in the recognition of fossil vertebrate tracksites in western Canada. Most of these finds were made in Alberta and British Columbia, but the Yukon Territory can lay claim to at least one tracksite and probably has the potential to yield more sites. The record of dinosaur tracks with skin impressio...

Isolated theropod teeth provide useful data for paleogeographic and paleoecologic studies, although tooth morphologies with ambiguous affinity are frequently recovered from Late Cretaceous microfossil localities. It is not known if these morphotypes result from individual or ontogenetic variation within known theropod taxa from the Late Cretaceous....

New dinosaur track assemblages were discovered recently in the Tianjialou Formation of the Lower Cretaceous Dasheng Group in Shandong Province, China. Theropods are represented by the trackways of two different medium-sized groups: (1) tridactyl tracks with a typical mesaxonic shape; (2) functionally didactyl tracks attributed to deinonychosaurian...

Thirty-seven well-preserved, isolated theropod teeth from the Early Cenomanian Kem Kem beds, Morocco, are identified by using morphometric data and direct comparison with teeth previously described in the literature. Direct comparison reveals that four different morphotypes (MT 1–4) are present in the sample. The teeth of MT 1 are characterised by...

The Kaskapau Formation is a mudstone-dominated wedge up to 950 m thick that spans late Cenomanian to middle Turonian time. The formation has a prominent wedge geometry and was deposited in the foredeep of the Western Canada Foreland Basin. In outcrop in northeast British Columbia, nearshore sandstones are locally well developed and include rare wed...

Documenting variation in theropod dinosaurs is usually hindered by the lack of a large sample size and specimens representing several ontogenetic stages. Here, variation within 140 disassociated and seven in situ tyrannosaur teeth from the Upper Cretaceous (lower Maastrichtian) monodominant Albertosaurus sarcophagus (Theropoda: Tyrannosauridae) bon...

The removal of extraneous biological materials from vertebrate ichnological specimens may be necessary if they have been exposed to subaerial processes in the field for long periods of time. It is not uncommon for fossil track specimens to be found nearly completely covered with lichen colonies, especially those recovered from alpine areas. This pa...

The currently known record of pre-Quaternary fossil vertebrate tracks in western Canada consists of track sites from over twenty geologic formations representing a time span that extends from the Upper Jurassic/Lower Cretaceous (Tithonian/Berriasian) to the middle Paleocene. For the most part this ichnological record is, with the exception of inter...