Anomoepus
Encyclopedia
Anomoepus gracillimus is the name assigned to fossil
footprints
first reported from Early Jurassic
beds of the Connecticut River Valley, Massachusetts
, USA in 1802.
All four feet have left impressions. The smaller forefeet have five toes, whereas the larger hind feet have three toes. There is also an impression which might indicate where the creature rested. The footprints were discovered, amongst others, by a farm boy, Pliny Moody. E.B. Hitchcock
, a clergyman, described the Anomoepus footprints and others as evidence of ancient bird
s. They have since been identified as belonging to a dinosaur
, probably an ornithischian, as indicated by the number of toes and the absence of claws on the rear digits. Trackways assigned to Anomoepus from Western Australia
have also been described. Anomoepus is the name of the footprint, not of the dinosaur, the identity of which remains unknown.
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
footprints
Animal tracks
Animal tracks are the imprints left behind in soil, snow, mud, or other ground surfaces that an animal walk across. Animal tracks are used by hunters in tracking their prey and by naturalists to identify animals living in a given area....
first reported from Early Jurassic
Early Jurassic
The Early Jurassic epoch is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic period...
beds of the Connecticut River Valley, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, USA in 1802.
All four feet have left impressions. The smaller forefeet have five toes, whereas the larger hind feet have three toes. There is also an impression which might indicate where the creature rested. The footprints were discovered, amongst others, by a farm boy, Pliny Moody. E.B. Hitchcock
Edward Hitchcock
Edward Hitchcock was a noted American geologist and the third President of Amherst College .-Life:...
, a clergyman, described the Anomoepus footprints and others as evidence of ancient bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s. They have since been identified as belonging to a dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
, probably an ornithischian, as indicated by the number of toes and the absence of claws on the rear digits. Trackways assigned to Anomoepus from Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
have also been described. Anomoepus is the name of the footprint, not of the dinosaur, the identity of which remains unknown.
Ichnospecies
- A. scambus Hitchcock, 1848
- A. ranivorus Ellenberger, 1970
- A. vermivorous (Ellenberger, 1970)
- A. minimus (Ellenberger, 1970)
- A. minor (Ellenberger, 1970)
- A. palmipes (Ellenberger, 1970)
- A. natator (Ellenberger, 1970)
- A. aviforma (Ellenberger, 1970)
- A. galliforma (Ellenberger, 1970)
- A. superaviforma (Ellenberger, 1970)
- A. phalassianiforma (Ellenberger, 1970)
- A. levis (Ellenberger, 1970)
- A. popompoi (Ellenberger, 1970)
- A. supervipes (Ellenberger, 1970)
- A. fringilla (Ellenberger, 1974)
- A. turda (Ellenberger, 1974)
- A. minutus (Ellenberger, 1974)
- A. perdiciforma (Ellenberger, 1974)
- A. natatilis (Ellenberger, 1974)
- A. levicauda (Ellenberger, 1974)
- A. dodai (Ellenberger, 1974)
- A. longicauda (Ellenberger, 1974)
- A. moghrebensis Biron & Dutuit, 1981
- A. pienkovskii Gierliński, 1991
- A. karaszevskii (Gierliński, 1991)
- A. moabensis (M.G. Lockley, S.Y. Yang, M. Matsukawa, F. Fleming, & Lim, 1992)
See also
- IchnologyIchnologyIchnology is the branch of geology that deals with traces of organismal behavior, such as burrows and footprints. It is generally considered as a branch of paleontology; however, only one division of ichnology, paleoichnology, deals with trace fossils, while neoichnology is the study of modern traces...
- Connecticut River Valley trackwaysConnecticut River Valley trackwaysThe Connecticut River Valley trackways are the fossilised footprints of a number of Early Jurassic dinosaurs or other archosauromorphs from the sandstone beds of South Hadley, Massachusetts. The finding has the distinction of being the first known discovery of dinosaur remains in North America.A...