White Matt A, Cook Alex G, Rumbold Steven J
School of Engineering, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, Australia.
Palaeontology, Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History, Winton, Queensland, Australia.
PeerJ. 2017 Jun 6;5:e3427. doi: 10.7717/peerj.3427. eCollection 2017.
Distinguishing the difference between theropod and ornithopod footprints has proved a difficult task due to their similarities. Herein our aim was to produce a method where a skeleton could be more closely matched to actual fossilised footprints. The reconstructed pes of the Australian Megaraptoran was utilised for this footprint reconstruction. It was 3-D printed in life size, molded and cast to produce a flexible theropod foot for footprint creation. The Dinosaur Stampede National Monument, Lark Quarry, Queensland, Australia was used as our case study to compare fossilised dinosaur footprints with our reconstructed theropod prints. The footprints were created in a sediment that resembled the paleo-sediments of Lark Quarry prior to being traversed by dinosaurs. Measurements of our prints with two distinctly different print types at Lark Quarry revealed similarities with one distinct trackway which has been the center of recent debate. These footprints consist of 11 consecutive footprints and show distinct similarities in both size and proportions to our footprints.
由于兽脚亚目恐龙和鸟脚亚目恐龙的足迹相似，区分它们之间的差异已被证明是一项艰巨的任务。在此，我们的目标是开发一种方法，使骨骼能够与实际的化石足迹更紧密地匹配。澳大利亚巨型猛禽的重建足部被用于此次足迹重建。它按实际大小进行3D打印，然后进行模制和铸造，以制作出一个用于创建足迹的灵活兽脚亚目恐龙足部模型。澳大利亚昆士兰州拉克采石场的恐龙踩踏国家纪念地被用作我们的案例研究，以将化石恐龙足迹与我们重建的兽脚亚目恐龙足迹进行比较。这些足迹是在一种类似于拉克采石场在恐龙穿越之前的古沉积物的沉积物中形成的。我们对拉克采石场两种明显不同的足迹类型进行测量后发现，其中一种独特的足迹路径与我们的足迹有相似之处，而这条足迹路径一直是近期争论的焦点。这些足迹由11个连续的足迹组成，在大小和比例上与我们的足迹都有明显的相似之处。
