A REASSESSMENT OF THE PTERAICHNUS ICHNOSPECIES FROM THE EARLY CRETACEOUS OF SORIA PROVINCE, SPAIN

The Cameros Basin, distributed over Soria, La Rioja and Burgos provinces in NE Spain, is apparently one of the richest sources of pterosaur footprints, with six ichnospecies of Pteraichnus named to date. The Cameros Basin exposes 9 km thickness of Late Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous continental deposits that are richly fossiliferous. Of the six alloformations in this sequence, the Huerteles Alloformation is a Succession of alluvial siliclastics and lacustrine lime-stones dated as Tithonian-Berriasian in age. The pterosaur footprints are described, and compared with related forms from elsewhere. Of the six ichnospecies named from the Cameros Basin, Pteraichnus palacieisaenzi and P. cidacoi are nomina dubia because they lack holotypes housed in a public institution. Further, P. manueli and P. vetustior cannot be characterized at present. and so are also regarded as nomina dubia until diagnostic characters may be identified. P. longipodus and P. parvus are probably valid taxa, distinct from P. saltwashensis and P. stokesi, named previously from North America. Of the four supposed pterosaurian ichnogenera, Pteraichnus is valid, and Purbeckopus and Haenamichnus may be valid, but Agadirichnus is a nomen dubium because it is poorly characterized and lacks type specimens.