World's largest deinonychosaur tracks discovered in China's Fujian

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A dinosaur tracksite discovered in Lincheng Town, Longyan City, southeast China's Fujian Province. /CMG

A team of scientists on Monday claimed discovering large two-toed tracks of deinonychosaurs in Lincheng Town, southeast China's Fujian Province.

At least eight types of dinosaur tracks have been found over the years at the Longxiang tracksite by scientists and experts from China University of Geosciences and Yingliang Stone Natural History Museum, 12 of which are didactyl deinonychosaur tracks that fall into two morphologies.

Among the 12 two-toed fossil tracks, five large tracks measuring 36.4 centimeters in length and 16.9 centimeters in width, on average, led researchers to establish a new dinosaur taxon: Fujianipus yingliangi.

A dinosaur tracksite discovered in Lincheng Town, Longyan City, southeast China's Fujian Province. /CMG

Based on relative toe proportions, Fujianipus is a probable troodontid.

"These are currently the largest deinonychosaur tracks found in China and beyond," said Xing Lida, an associate professor at China University of Geosciences, adding that based on the size of the tracks, it is estimated that Fujianipus was at least 5 meters long, with a hip height of nearly 2 meters.

"The Longxian tracksite is the best-preserved, largest area and the most diverse Late Cretaceous dinosaur tracksite discovered in China to date," said Niu Kecheng, curator of Yingliang Stone Natural History Museum.

The discovery of the Fujianipus yingliangi greatly expands the size range of deinonychosaur tracks, which is of great significance for the study of the Late Cretaceous dinosaurs in China, Niu added.

The discovery was recently published in the international journal iScience.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency