Italian Journal of Geosciences - Vol. 144 (2025) f.2

Jurassic dinosaurs from Brazil: the footprints from Parnaíba Province, Mosquito Formation

Ismar de Souza Carvalho1, Manuel Alfredo Medeiros3, Roseane Ribeiro Sarges4, Denise Carla da Silva Mendes5, Rossano D. L. Michel6, Claiton M. S. Scherer7, Bernardo de C. P. e M. Peixoto8,9, Heitor R. D. Francischini10, Renato P. Ghilardi11, Roberto Vasconcelos Marques12, José Maria dos Reis Maia Filh13 & Hannah Souza Levy14
1Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, CCMN - Instituto de Geociências, Brazil. 2Centro de Geociências, Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal. 3Universidade Federal do Maranhão DEBIO, Brazil. 4Universidade Federal do Maranhão BICT, Brazil. 5Universidade Estadual do Maranhão, Brazil. 6Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Instituto de Geociências, Brazil. 7Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Instituto de Geociências, Brazil. 8Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho, Faculdade de Ciências de Bauru, Brazil. 9Gobabeb Namib Research Institute, Namibia. 10Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Instituto de Geociências, Brazil. 11Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho, Faculdade de Ciências de Bauru, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Brazil. 12Secretaria de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Turismo de Balsas, Brazil. 13Associação Ambiental Orla Viva, Praia da Ponta Grossa, Brazil. 14Instituto Federal do Maranhão, Brazil.
Corresponding author e-mail: ismar@geologia.ufrj.br


Volume: 144 (2025) f.2

Abstract

Dinosaur footprints in the Parnaíba Province, Brazil are so far restricted to the Corda Formation (Upper Jurassic) and Itapecuru Formation (Lower Cretaceous). They are interpreted as predominantly belonging to theropods. In this study, fossil footprints are reported in sandstones from the Mosquito Formation (Lower Jurassic), municipality of Fortaleza dos Nogueiras, Maranhão State, Northeastern Brazil. The footprints occur in sedimentary succession interpreted as an aeolian-lacustrine environmental context (Macapá Member) representing the first deposits of the Mosquito Formation. The new ichnosite of Tangará Ecopark represents to date the most important occurrence of dinosaur tracks from the Brazilian Jurassic, with a large number of footprints allowing new insights into the dinosaur record from Brazil and new perspectives on their diversity and environmental distribution.

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