Scientists discover important Early Jurassic dinosaur tracks

BEIJING -- A team of international scientists from China, Germany and the United States has identified an important assemblage of dinosaur footprints in Wucha village, Renhuai city, Southwest China's Guizhou province.

The findings were published in the latest issue of the Journal of Asian Earth Sciences. This discovery indicates that the area was a lakeshore sandbar environment during the Early Jurassic period, suitable for various dinosaur groups.

The Renhuai area in Guizhou is a significant region for Early Jurassic dinosaur fossils in south China. While numerous sauropod and theropod tracks have been found there in the past, systematic records of multiple dinosaur groups coexisting are rare. Between 2020 and 2024, researchers from Guizhou University, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), and other institutions discovered several vertebrate track sites in and around Wucha Village.

According to Xing Lida, an associate professor at China University of Geosciences (Beijing), the Wucha track assemblage provides a complete record of the coexistence of basal sauropodomorphs, sauropods, theropods, and basal ornithischians. Among them, the largest sauropod track measures 60 centimeters, consistent with Early Jurassic sauropod tracks commonly found in the Sichuan Basin. Some of the small basal ornithischian footprints show stride lengths of only 6 to 7 centimeters but relatively large step lengths, suggesting the dinosaurs were running.

One set of two-digit footprints attracted particular attention. The research team believes these tracks were likely made by tridactyl dinosaurs while running or kicking, leaving only two-digit impressions, rather than being made by true two-digit dinosaurs.

This finding suggests that under certain conditions, tridactyl dinosaurs can leave "two-digits-like" impressions, which have important implications for identifying early deinonychosaur tracks and provide a new reference for interpreting similar "suspected two-digits prints" worldwide, said Xing.

Xing noted that this new discovery enriches the study of Early Jurassic dinosaur fauna in Guizhou. As more track sites are explored, the Renhuai area is expected to become a key window for researching dinosaur activity in China during the Early Jurassic period.

The discovered footprints have been preserved at their original sites.