Giant pterosaur tracks from the Late Campanian (Late Cretaceous) of northeastern Mexico

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Eberhard Frey
• Subject Area: Palaeontology
• Term: from 2006 to 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 27215379

A sequence of pterosaurian manus and pes imprints from the Late Campanian of NE Mexico points to the existence of a pterosaur of more than twice the size of the largest pterosaur known to date, Hatzegopteryx from the Late Cretaceous of Romania with a calculated wingspan of 12 m. The Mexican trackway consists of four prints, each with a length of 800 mm. They were produced by a pterosaur with a wingspan of more than 20 metres. The sequence of footprints was discovered in terrestrial to shallow marine siltstones of the Late Campanian Cerro del Pueblo Formation at Las Aguilas, a site located 5 km east of Porvenir El Jalpa in S Coahuila. The stride measures 3.8 metres and the trackway width is calculated by us to approximate 5 metres. The largest pterosaur pes imprints hitherto recorded come from the Early Cretaceous Uhangri Formation of S Korea, with a maximum pes length of 380 mm and were referred to an azdarchoid pterosaur with a wingspan of about 12-14 metres. The proposal refers to an initial excavation, which will be expanded in follow-up projects.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Mexico
• Participating Person: Dr. Arturo González González