Discovery of Dinosaur Footprints from the Lower Jurassic Lufeng Formation of Yunnan Province, China and New Observations on Changpeipus

1) Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing, 100037, China
2) Lufeng Dinosaur Research Center, Yunnan, 651200, China
3) Physical Sciences Department, Dixie State College, 225 South 700 East, St. George, Utah 84770, USA
4) Research Center of Paleontology, Jilin University, Changchun, 130026, China
5) Toyama Science Museum, 1-8-31 Nishinakano-machi, Toyama Prefecture, 939-8084, Japan
6) Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100044. China

Abstract：Herein described are two footprints that belong to the new ichnospecies Changpeipus pareschequier ichnosp. nov. from the Lower Jurassic Lufeng Formation near Yaozhan village, Lufeng County, Yunnan Province, China. This is the first discovery of dinosaur footprints in the Lufeng Formation. The ichnogenus Changpeipus is revised after the re-study of its type specimens. Specimen IVPP V2472 2a, a supposed manus print that is part of the ichnogenoholotype of Changpeipus carbonicus, is re-studied herein and assessed as a pes print of a juvenile individual of the Changpeipus carbonicus track maker. Changpeipus luanpingeris is a junior synonym of Changpeipus carbonicus. Changpeipus pareschequier ichnosp. nov. resembles the ichnotaxon Kayentapus. Based on its characteristics, the footprints were presumably made by a member of the Coelophysoidea from the Lufeng Formation.

Key words: Lufeng County of Yunnan Province, Lufeng Formation, Early Jurassic, Changpeipus, Kayentapus