Preliminary report of a large theropod dinosaur trackway in Clarens Formation sandstone (Early Jurassic) in the Paul Roux district, northeastern Free State, South Africa
Date
2005
Authors
Raath, Michael A.
Yates, Adam M.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BERNARD PRICE INSTITUTE FOR PALAEONTOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Abstract
An isolated fallen block of Clarens Formation sandstone near the small northeastern Free State town of Paul Roux preserves part of the
trackway of a bipedal dinosaur. Although well known as a local curiosity, this trackway has not previously been formally reported or
described. It consists of five successive paces of what is interpreted as a medium-sized to large theropod dinosaur, and represents the
largest known theropod trackway in the ‘Stormberg’ sequence in South Africa. The tracks are assigned to the ichnotaxon Grallator sp.,
and show similarities to North American tracks of comparable age originally described as Dilophosauripus. Until now no body fossils of a
likely candidate trackmaker were known, but elsewhere in this volume a possible candidate is described by the second author.