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This study introduces new discoveries of fossil footprints from the Middle Jurassic Yaopo Formation in Beijing, China, marking the first reptile fossils that have been discovered in this formation. The two small footprints with parallel digits and drag marks suggest they were made by tetrapods moving through water. While there are similarities to crocodylian and pterosaur tracks, the evaluation suggests that turtles are the most likely trace-makers. If correct, the Yaopo Formation footprints are likely made by xinjiangchelyids, given their dominance in Asian freshwater ecosystems during the Late Jurassic and their widespread distribution in Late Jurassic China. Sichuanchelyids, Bashuchelyidae, and Hongkongochelys are less likely candidates due to their limited temporal and geographical distribution. This finding adds to the growing body of evidence on the evolution and ecology of turtles in Asia during the Late Jurassic period. These new findings offer important insights into the behaviour and spatiotemporal occurrence of these ancient reptiles and expand our understanding of their role in prehistoric aquatic ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aeolianites and cemented beach deposits on South Africa's Cape coast preserve evidence of events that transpired on them when they were composed of unconsolidated sand. Over the past decades, numerous Pleistocene vertebrate tracksites have been identified on aeolianite palaeosurfaces in the Garden Route National Park, West Coast National Park, and Addo Elephant National Park. In the Garden Route National Park alone, 57 Pleistocene vertebrate tracksites have been discovered. An equilibrium exists, whereby new sites become exposed through cliff-collapse events, while known sites slump into the ocean, are eroded through the action of wind and water, or are destroyed through wave action. Engraved graffiti poses a further threat. These sites complement the traditional body fossil record, and have significant palaeoenvironmental and palaeoanthropological implications. Hominin sites are of global importance: one contains the oldest tracks attributed to Homo sapiens, others contain patterns made in sand by ancestral humans and constitutes a form of early palaeoart. Collectively, these sites have substantial geoheritage value. The discoveries create management questions: which sites require active management, and how should they be ranked in importance? Factors which need to be considered in developing a management strategy include the scientific and heritage value of the sites, whether recovery or replication is preferable, the presence or absence of suitable repositories, the level of the threat to site integrity, the accessibility of the site, and the feasibility of recovery. Checklists containing appropriate criteria and questions can form tools in assessing the importance of these ichnosites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report five new dinosaur track sites in Chaya County, about 120 km southeast of Changdu City. The track assemblages are dominated by sauropods (45 tracks), which have been identified tentatively as cf. Brontopodus. Also present are two thyreophoran trackways consisting of 13 tracks that show strong similarities with the ichnogenus Deltapodus, the potential trackmakers of which were probably stegosaurids. The sauropod tracks from the Chaya region are dominated by large tracks with different affinities if compared to those of the Changdu area. The isolated sauropod tracks from Changdu and Chaya regions show similar morphological patterns, but those from the Chaya region lack large scale tracks. This paper compares and discusses the known ichno and body fossil records of sauropods, theropods, and ornithischians from the Middle Jurassic of Yunnan, Sichuan, and eastern Tibet and their importance for our understanding of dinosaur faunas from this region. The absence of basal neornithischian records in the Yunnan and Changdu regions is likely a preservational bias but also an ecological pecularity cannot be completely excluded. The palaeogeographic position of the four sampled skeleton and track sites suggests the possible existence of a corridor through which faunal exchanges were taking place throughout the Jurassic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A possible turtle swim track from the Third Member of the Late Triassic Xujiahe Formation (Norian-Rhaetian) represents the oldest ichnological evidence of the group from China, supplementing previous reports of more abundant tracks from the Middle Jurassic of the region. The specimen is younger than the known pantestudinate ('stem-turtle') body fossils from China but matches the stratigraphic distribution of testudinate skeletons in other regions, for example, in Thailand, Europe and North America. Caution should be used to distinguish turtle swim tracks from those of crocodylomorphs and theropod dinosaurs, especially where only small samples are available. Therefore, we do not completely exclude an affinity with these groups or other archosaurs, such as phytosaurs. Nevertheless, the morphology of the imprints is most similar to turtle tracks, and it is most likely that an early non-crown group representative was the responsible producer. Of interest is also the depositional environment of the track-bearing deposit, which can be considered a deltaic plain marsh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]