Durante las pasadas XXXVIII Jornadas de la Sociedad Española de Paleontología, algunos integrantes del Grupo de Biología Evolutiva de la UNED presentaron el trabajo titulado “Primer rastro de un dinosaurio saurópodo en el Cretácico Inferior de la Formación Arcillas de Morella” en formato póster. En dicho trabajo se expone de forma preliminar el estudio de un rastro formado por once huellas en el Yacimiento de Mas de Romeu, ubicado a escasos kilómetros al norte del núcleo urbano de Morella. Las icnitas poseen una morfología redondeada o subredondeada para el caso de las que se asocian a los pies del animal y una forma en semiluna para las asociadas a las manos. Con las medidas tomadas en el propio yacimiento se han realizado una serie de cálculos para conocer el icnogénero, la anchura del rastro y la altura a la cintura del animal productor. Como resultado final, se ha designado al icnogénero Brontopodus, el cual se caracteriza por poseer un rastro de “tipo ancho”, y se trataría de un saurópodo con una altura a la cintura de en torno a tres metros. El resumen es el siguiente:
The fossil record of the Arcillas de Morella Formation (Upper Barremian) is mostly made up of direct vertebrate remains from more than fifty sites in the Els Ports region (Castellón Province), although there are isolated vertebrate ichnites that have not been described yet. We present, in a preliminary way, a trace of dinosaur ichnites from this formation discovered at Mas de Romeu (Morella). A main track and some isolated tracks have been identified, which could belong to another trail. The main track, which is attributed to a sauropod dinosaur, is made up of twelve tracks, some with a subrounded outline (feet) and others with a semilunar outline (hands). The footprints vary in length from 64 to 80 cm and in width from 44 to 78 cm wide, and the handprints are between 37 and 63 cm long and between 34 and 59 cm wide. This trackway is characterised for being a “wide-gauge sensu stricto” type, with footprints that are between 7 and 15 cm from the midline of the track, and by the absence of nail marks. The characters of the the footprints are attributed to the ichnogenus Brontopodus, probably produced by sauropods Titanosauriformes. This attribution is consistent with the record of direct sauropod remains identified in the formation, predominantly consisting of forms attributed to this group. From an informative point of view, the site is particularly interesting due to its location in an area of scenic interest with a high influx of visitors. In addition, its ease of interpretation and spectacular nature give it enormous potential for disseminating on site certain aspects of the geology of the Els Ports region and the palaeobiology of this group of dinosaurs.
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