A New Insect Trackway from the Upper Jurassic—Lower Cretaceous Eolian Sandstones of São Paulo State, Brazil: Implications for Reconstructing Desert Paleoecology
A new insect trackway from the Upper Jurassic—Lower Cretaceous eolian sandstones of São Paulo State, Brazil: implications for reconstructing desert paleoecology Bernardo de C.P. e M. Peixoto1,2, M. Gabriela Mángano3, Nicholas J. Minter4, Luciana Bueno dos Reis Fernandes1 and Marcelo Adorna Fernandes1,2 1 Laboratório de Paleoicnologia e Paleoecologia, Departamento de Ecologia e Biologia Evolutiva, Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar), São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil 2 Programa de Pós Graduacão¸ em Ecologia e Recursos Naturais, Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar), São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil 3 Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada 4 School of the Environment, Geography, and Geosciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Hampshire, United Kingdom ABSTRACT The new ichnospecies Paleohelcura araraquarensis isp. nov. is described from the Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous Botucatu Formation of Brazil. This formation records a gigantic eolian sand sea (erg), formed under an arid climate in the south-central part of Gondwana. This trackway is composed of two track rows, whose internal width is less than one-quarter of the external width, with alternating to staggered series, consisting of three elliptical tracks that can vary from slightly elongated to tapered or circular. The trackways were found in yellowish/reddish sandstone in a quarry in the Araraquara municipality, São Paulo State. Comparisons with neoichnological studies and morphological inferences indicate that the producer of Paleohelcura araraquarensis isp. nov. was most likely a pterygote insect, and so could have fulfilled one of the Submitted 6 November 2019 ecological roles that different species of this group are capable of performing in dune Accepted 10 March 2020 deserts.
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