2025/07/01 by Phil R. Bell, Phil R Bell, D Cary Woodruff +5 · 2 voices
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Social Sciences · #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
paper · doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaf053
openalex publication_date 2025/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
Abstract Dinosaur footprints can provide important palaeobiological information, including the speed, behaviour, limb kinematics, and soft tissue anatomy of the trackmaker. Here we report on a collection of well-preserved natural track casts made by sauropods from the Nemegt locality (latest Cretaceous) in southern Mongolia. These casts of isolated mani and pedes preserve exceptional details of the soft tissues including the ungual and fleshy cuticle of pedal digits I and II; regional changes in scale size across the pes, and peculiar spur-like scales on the lateral, posterior, and palmar surfaces of the mani. These tracks show that the large pedal unguals were largely encased in squamous soft tissues and that only a small portion of the claw protruded beyond the cuticle. These findings imply that pedal digit range of motion would have been reduced compared to traditional bone-on-bone estimates, although scratch digging remains a tenable hypothesis for pedal digit function. Fleshy pads on the pes and spur-like scales on the manus may have been adaptations to deal with the sandy substrates of the Nemegt ecosystem, although other explanations cannot be excluded. These discoveries provide novel insights into the soft tissue anatomy and potential function of the mani and pedes of the Nemegt sauropods.