New Discovery Of Early Cretaceous Vertebrate Ichnites In The Wuerhe Region Of Xinjiang

A theropod(especially non-avian theropods)-bird-thyreophora track assemblage and invertebrate traces assemblage have been found in the Lower belt of the Lower Cretaceous Tugulu Group in Wuerhe District,Kelamayi City,Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,China.In this paper,a systematic paleontological study of dinosaur-bird tracks is conducted,which include three ichnogenera of theropod tracks,two ichnogenera of bird tracks,and one ichnogenus of thyreopora track.202 theropod tracks are examined and researched herein,and can be divided into three ichnogenera according to morphological characteristics: Jialingpus,Asianopodus and ?Eubrontes.In total,291 bird tracks are collected in this paper,which are mainly the shorebird type,and can be divided into two ichnogenera according to morphological characteristics:,Koreanaornis and Goseongornipes,of which Koreanaornis dominates.There are few specimens of thyreophora tracks,all of which belong to Deltapodus.According to the features of ichnofossils of invertebrates,sedimentology and petrology,it can be inferred that the sedimentary facies of the study area is shallow lake and lakeshore.This paper also discusses the symbiosis between the Jialingpus and the invertebrate traces,and the symbiosis between the bird tracks and the invertebrate traces,the predation relationship between different species,and the palaeoenvironmental and paleoecological information of theropod,shorebird and thyreopora tracks.