''Haenamichnus'' is an

ichnogenus An ichnotaxon (plural ichnotaxa) is "a taxon based on the fossilized work of an organism", i.e. the non-human equivalent of an artifact. ''Ichnotaxon'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''íchnos'') meaning "track" and English , itself derived from ...

of probable

azhdarchid Azhdarchidae (from the Persian word , , a dragon-like creature in Persian mythology) is a family of pterosaurs known primarily from the Late Cretaceous Period, though an isolated vertebra apparently from an azhdarchid is known from the Early Cre ...

pterosaurs Pterosaurs are an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the Order (biology), order Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 million to 66 million years ago). Pterosau ...

from the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''cre ...

(

Campanian The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campa ...

) of

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. The

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

and only ichnospecies is ''H. uhangriensis'', representing the largest known trace fossil made by a pterosaur.

Discovery and naming

In 2002, paleontologists Koo-Geun Hwang, Min Huh,

Martin Lockley Martin G. Lockley (17 March 1950 – 25 November 2023) was a Welsh palaeontologist. He was educated in the United Kingdom where he obtained degrees (BSc and PhD) and post-doctoral experience in Geology in the 1970s. Since 1980 he has been a pr ...

, David Unwin and Joanna Wright named the type ichnospecies ''Haenamichnus uhangriensis'', based on fossil tracks they found in the

Uhangri Formation The Uhangri Formation (), located at the Haenam County, Haenam, South Jeolla Province, Jeollanam-do, South Korea is a non-marine geological Formation (geology), formation known with epiclastic fluvio-lacustrine sequence with minor volcaniclastics. ...

of South Korea. The ichnogeneric name means 'trace of

Haenam County Haenam (''Haenam-gun'') is a county in South Jeolla Province, South Korea. The capital of Haenam-gun is Haenam-eup (Haenam town). The economy of the county is based mainly on agriculture, with rice and radish being the two most common crops. Hist ...

', while the ichnospecific name is in reference to the Uhangri Formation. The age of the Uhangri Formation is estimated around during the

stage. Some Campanian azhdarchid tracks found in the

Cerro del Pueblo Formation The Cerro del Pueblo Formation is a geological Formation (geology), formation in Saltillo, capital city of the state of Coahuila, Mexico, whose strata date back to the latest Campanian of the Late Cretaceous, just before the Campanian-Maastric ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and the

Wapiti Formation The Wapiti Formation is a geological formation of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in northwestern Alberta, and northeastern British Columbia, Canada. Its deposition spanned the time interval from the lower Campanian through to the upper Ma ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

might belong to this ichnogenus.

Formerly assigned ichnospecies

A putative second ichnospecies, ''H. gainensis'', was reported from the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous (geochronology, geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphy, chronostratigraphic name) is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 143.1 ...

(

Albian The Albian is both an age (geology), age of the geologic timescale and a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early/Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch/s ...

)

Haman Formation The Haman Formation () is an Early Cretaceous geological formation in South Korea. It has been dated to the Albian, with an estimated maximum depositional age of 105.4 ± 0.4 Ma. The deposit is known for its tracks, including those of dinos ...

, but this ichnotaxon is now reassigned to as the archosaur trace fossil '' Batrachopus'' cf. ''grandis'', made by either a bipedal

crocodylomorph Crocodylomorpha is a group of pseudosuchian archosaurs that includes the crocodilians and their extinct relatives. They were the only members of Pseudosuchia to survive the end-Triassic extinction. Extinct crocodylomorphs were considerably mor ...

therizinosaur Therizinosaurs (; once called segnosaurs) are an extinct group of large herbivorous theropod dinosaurs whose fossils have been mainly discovered from Cretaceous deposits in Asia and North America. Potential fragmentary remains have also been foun ...

Classification

The trackmaker of ''Haenamichnus uhangriensis'' is probably a large

pterosaur Pterosaurs are an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 million to 66 million years ago). Pterosaurs are the earli ...

, likely reaching in wingspan, in height and in body mass, more than ten times heavier than the

Kori bustard The kori bustard (''Ardeotis kori'') is the largest flying bird native to Africa. It is a member of the bustard family (biology), family, which all belong to the order Otidiformes and are restricted in distribution to the Old World. It is one of ...

. Meanwhile, much common and smaller ''Haenamichnus'' sp. tracks from the Uhangri Formation is consistent with medium-sized azhdarchids reaching in wingspan. Azhdarchids are the only group of pterosaurs to which trackways have been assigned, including ''Haenamichnus'' which matches this group in shape, age, and size. One long trackway of this kind shows that azhdarchids walked with their limbs held directly underneath their body, and along with the morphology of their feet indicates they were more proficient on the ground than other pterosaurs. According to Witton, their proportions indicate they were not good swimmers on the other hand, and though they could probably launch from water, they were not as good at this as some other pterosaur groups. ''Haenamichnus'' was initially classified within the ichnofamily Pteraichnidae, but Masrour et al. (2018) included both '' Agadirichnus'' and ''Haenamichnus'' within their newly proposed ichnofamily, Agadirichnidae. Although it is notable for being the largest known pterosaur track, because the type series is rather poorly preserved and lacks stable shape, a redescription with more specimens of this ichnogenus might be required to confirm its ichnotaxonomic validity.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5638279 Reptile trace fossils Azhdarchidae Cretaceous South Korea Fossils of South Korea Pterosaur genera

Discovery and naming

Formerly assigned ichnospecies

Classification

See also

References