Pterosaur trackways from the Lower Cretaceous Jiaguan Formation (Barremian–Albian) of Qijiang, Southwest China

The Lotus Fortress tracksite in the Qijiang National Geological Park, in Qijiang District, Chongqing Municipality consists of two distinct assemblages associated with different surfaces (Qijiang Layers 1 and 2). The lower of these two assemblages, here labeled as the “Wupus-Pteraichnus ichnoassemblage” is dominated by multiple, mainly parallel trackways of a small tridactyl and five trackways of pterosaurs (Pteraichnus). The upper surface assemblage, here labeled as the “Caririchnium ichnoassemblage”, is dominated by the tracks of ornithopods (Caririchnium lotus). Here we give a detailed description of the Pteraichnus tracks and evaluate their paleoecological significance together with other reports of pterosaur tracks from East Asia.