A review of footprints from the Wessex Formation (Wealden Group, Lower Cretaceous) at Hanover Point, the Isle of Wight, southern England

Lockwood, Jeremy A.F., Lockley, Martin G. and Pond, Stuart (2014) A review of footprints from the Wessex Formation (Wealden Group, Lower Cretaceous) at Hanover Point, the Isle of Wight, southern England. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 113 (3), 707-720. (doi:10.1111/bij.12349).

Abstract

Hanover Point on the Isle of Wight, England, is a Lower Cretaceous (Barremian) site yielding a large number of dinosaur footprints from the Wessex Formation. These footprints, hitherto often referred to as ‘Iguanodon’ tracks, have generated interest and speculation since the beginning of the Victorian era. Today, Hanover Point largely yields sandstone casts (convex hyporeliefs) of footprints but also includes some impressions (concave epireliefs), a few of which form short trackways. The majority belongs to large ornithopods, many with foot lengths in excess of 50?cm. Theropods and the occasional thyreophoran track are also represented. The site represents the Wessex Formation within the Wealden Group and can be described ichnologically as a category 3a deposit. Most of the large ornithopod footprints have a distinctive quadripartite morphology and are best assigned to the ichnogenus Caririchnium or in some cases Amblydactylus. Few are morphologically compatible with Iguanodontipus which was described from pre-Wealden deposits and appears to be little represented in the Wealden ichnofaunas.

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