''Komlosaurus'' ("Komlo lizard") is an

ichnogenus An ichnotaxon (plural ichnotaxa) is "a taxon based on the fossilized work of an organism", i.e. the non-human equivalent of an artifact. ''Ichnotaxa'' comes from the Greek ίχνος, ''ichnos'' meaning ''track'' and ταξις, ''taxis'' meaning ...

theropod Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

from the

Early Jurassic The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic-J ...

Baranya Baranya or Baranja may refer to: * Baranya (region) or Baranja, a region in Hungary and Croatia * Baranya County, a county in modern Hungary * Baranya County (former), a county in the historic Kingdom of Hungary * Baranya, Hungarian name of villag ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. The type species, ''Komlosaurus carbonis'', was described by Kordos in 1983. The type remains come from the

Mecsek Coal Formation The Mecsek Coal Formation is a Jurassic geologic formation in Hungary. Indeterminate fossil ornithischian tracks have been reported from the formation.Weishampel, et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution." Pp. 517-607. Vertebrate paleofauna Dinos ...

, from the Middle Hettangian to the Early Sinemurian, and comprise several footprints. KomlosaursV2

Description

In the

Hettangian The Hettangian is the earliest age and lowest stage of the Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (My ...

Sinemurian In the geologic timescale, the Sinemurian is an age and stage in the Early or Lower Jurassic Epoch or Series. It spans the time between 199.3 ± 2 Ma and 190.8 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago). The Sinemurian is preceded by the Hettangian and is ...

deposits of the

Komló Komló (, german: Kumlau, hr, Komlov) is a town in Baranya county, Hungary. The name of the settlement is derived from the local crop of hops (komló), an ingredient of beer. By the 18th century a depiction of this plant running up a support alre ...

area (Mecsek Mountain, Hungary), footprints of

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

dinosaurs assigned to the

ichnospecies An ichnotaxon (plural ichnotaxa) is "a taxon based on the fossilized work of an organism", i.e. the non-human equivalent of an artifact. ''Ichnotaxa'' comes from the Greek ίχνος, ''ichnos'' meaning ''track'' and ταξις, ''taxis'' meaning ...

''K. carbonis'' are the only published palaeontological data of vertebrates in this region; however, several fossils of plants and pollen has been discovered there.Ősi, A., Pálfy, J., Makádi, L., Szentesi, Z., Gulyás, P., Rabi, M., Botfalvai, G. & Hips, K. (2011)
Hettangian (Early Jurassic) Dinosaur Tracksites from the Mecsek Mountains, Hungary
''Ichnos'', 18(2), 79-94. The footprints, which form tracks, occur in several levels on bedding planes of fine-grained sediments. The largest occurrence of fossils is at the Karolina and Vasas

strip mine Surface mining, including strip mining, open-pit mining and mountaintop removal mining, is a broad category of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit (the overburden) are removed, in contrast to underground mining, in which ...

s in the Mecsek Mountain nearby

Pécs Pécs ( , ; hr, Pečuh; german: Fünfkirchen, ; also known by other #Name, alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the countr ...

. The footprints collection of ''Komlosaurus'' can be seen at the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary, with a few specimens in the Local History Museum of

, Hungary.

Classification

''Komlosaurus'' was classified originally as an ichnogenus of an

ornithopod Ornithopoda () is a clade of ornithischian dinosaurs, called ornithopods (), that started out as small, bipedal running grazers and grew in size and numbers until they became one of the most successful groups of herbivores in the Cretaceous world ...

dinosaur, but new traces found (the specimens Muz. PIG 1624.II.1, 1624.II.2, 1624.II.3 and 1624.II.4) led to consider ''Komlosaurus'' as footprints made by a theropod, and also as a possible

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

for other dinosaur ichnogenus, assigning the smaller footprints to ''

Grallator ''Grallator'' GRA-luh-tor"is an ichnogenus (form taxon based on footprints) which covers a common type of small, three-toed print made by a variety of bipedal theropod dinosaurs. ''Grallator''-type footprints have been found in formations dating ...

tuberosus'' and the larger, thinner ones to '' Kayentapus soltykovensis''.Società geologica italiana
Bollettino della Società geologica italiana, Volume 124
2005 The findings made in 1988 in the Karolina valley allowed recover two separate traces of the area, which have several morphological differences with respect both to ''Grallator'' and ''Kayentapus'', the reason why is considered that ''Komlosaurus'' is enough different in respect to the more robust grallatorids tracks to be a valid ichnogenus. The traces of ''Komlosaurus'' are characterized by being tridactyle, with long and thin fingers, with frequently curved impressions, with a division angle between the II-IV digits of 72 degrees, even with impressions of the footpad and the

hallux Toes are the digits (fingers) of the foot of a tetrapod. Animal species such as cats that walk on their toes are described as being '' digitigrade''. Humans, and other animals that walk on the soles of their feet, are described as being '' pl ...

. The abundance of traces, the variation in size of the individuals (with footprints between 9.5 and 26 centimeters long, and 7 to 16 centimeters wide), the similar stride velocity of them - from 6 to 14 kilometers per hour - and the fact that they possess the same type of preservation suggests that these animals moved in groups.

References

External links

* http://index.hu/tudomany/dino070406/ * https://web.archive.org/web/20110721105140/http://www.caboodle.hu/nc/news/news_archive/single_page/article/11/prehistoric/?cHash=addc191954
http://www.discussfossils.com/
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1116178 Theropods Dinosaur trace fossils Hettangian life Sinemurian life Early Jurassic dinosaurs of Europe Fossils of Hungary Baranya (region) Fossil taxa described in 1983

Description

Classification

See also

References

External links