A comparison of the dinosaur communities from the Middle Jurassic of the Cleveland (Yorkshire) and Hebrides (Skye) basins, based on their ichnites

Romano, M., Clark, N. D. L. and Brusatte, S. L. (2018) A comparison of the dinosaur communities from the Middle Jurassic of the Cleveland (Yorkshire) and Hebrides (Skye) basins, based on their ichnites. Geosciences, 8(9), 327. (doi: 10.3390/geosciences8090327)

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Abstract

Despite the Hebrides and Cleveland basins being geographically close, research has not previously been carried out to determine faunal similarities and assess the possibility of links between the dinosaur populations. The palaeogeography of both areas during the Middle Jurassic shows that there were no elevated landmasses being eroded to produce conglomeratic material in the basins at that time. The low-lying landscape and connected shorelines may have provided connectivity between the two dinosaur populations. The dinosaur fauna of the Hebrides and Cleveland basins has been assessed based primarily on the abundant ichnites found in both areas as well as their skeletal remains. In the two basins, the dinosaur faunas are very similar, consisting of non-neosauropod eusauropods, a possible basal titanosauriform, large and small theropods and ornithopods and europodan thyreophorans. The main difference in the faunas is in the sizes. In the Cleveland Basin, the ichnites suggest that there were medium and large theropods alongside small to medium sized ornithopods, whereas, in the Hebrides Basin, the theropods were from small to large and the ornithopods were medium to large. It is suggested that migrations could have taken place between the two areas during the Middle Jurassic. A tentative food chain from the herbivorous dinosaurs to the top predators can be inferred from the footprints.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:Funding: The authors also thank the National Geographic Society for funding the PalAlba fieldwork (grant GEFNE185-16) to the Hebrides Basin.
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Clark, Dr Neil
Authors: Romano, M., Clark, N. D. L., and Brusatte, S. L.
Subjects:Q Science > QE Geology
Q Science > QH Natural history
Q Science > QL Zoology
College/School:University Services > Library and Collection Services > Museum and Art Gallery
Journal Name:Geosciences
Publisher:MDPI
ISSN:2076-3263
ISSN (Online):2076-3263
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2018 The Authors
First Published:First published in Geosciences 8:327
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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