First record of a small stegosaur footprint (cf. Stegopodus) from the ?Upper Jurassic-?Lower Cretaceous red beds of the Middle Atlas, Morocco. Issue 3 (2nd October 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Oukassou, Mostafa; Zafaty, Omar; Gierliński, Gerard D.; Klein, Hendrik; Saber, Hafid; Amzil, Mustapha; Charrière, André
• Is Part Of: Ichnos. Volume 29:Issue 3/4(2022)
• Page Start: 195
• Page End: 204
• Publication Date: 2022-10-02
• Subjects: Jurassic-Cretaceous -- Morocco -- Oued El Atchane Formation -- Stegopodus -- Stegosaur track; Ichnology -- Periodicals; Trace fossils -- Periodicals; 560.5
• DOI: 10.1080/10420940.2023.2182299
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1042-0940

Abstract

Abstract: We describe an isolated small stegosaur pes track from the ?Upper Jurassic-?Lower Cretaceous red beds of the folded Middle Atlas, Morocco. It comes from the base of the Oued El Atchane Formation which unconformably overlies the Middle Jurassic (Upper Bathonian-? Callovian) El Mers III Formation. The footprint is preserved as concave epirelief together with a natural cast on a fluvial sandstone slab and is assigned here tentatively to cf. Stegopodus isp. The new discovery confirms the presence of this ichnogenus on the African continent and highlights similarities between the Jurassic-Cretaceous dinosaur faunas of North Africa and those of Asia, North America and Western Europe.