宁夏恐龙足迹的发现及其意义

报道了在宁夏固原首次发现的恐龙足迹化石。该恐龙足迹化石分别为鸟脚类恐龙足迹和蜥脚类恐龙足迹，均发现于早白垩世李洼峡组沉积地层中。其中的鸟脚类恐龙足迹命名为六盘山宁夏足印 ( Ningxiapus liupanshanensis ichnogenus et inchnosp． nov． ) 。六盘山宁夏足印长与宽之比为1. 22; 第I 趾纤细，短于第IV 趾; 第II 趾与第III 趾之间夹角为35°，第III 趾与第IV 趾之间夹角为45° 等特征区别于其他鸟脚类恐龙脚印。新发现的蜥脚类恐龙以足迹化石形式保存，其前、后足印的长度大小分别为36 cm 和15 cm，应为中等大小的蜥脚类恐龙所留下。这些恐龙足迹化石的发现，为研究该地区的古生物地理及古生态的恢复以及为将来在该地区发现恐龙骨骼化石提供重要信息。

Discovery of dinosaur footprints from Ningxia and its significance

The first discovery of dinosaur footprints from Guyuan of Ningxia is briefly reported． These dinosaur footprints include the ornithopod and the sauropod dinosaur footprints． All of them are found in the Early Cretaceous deposits of Liwaxia Formation． The ornithopod dinosaur footprint is named as Ningxiapus liupanshanensis ichnogen et inchnosp． nov． It is characterized by the ratio of length to width 1. 22，the first toe slender，shorter than the fourth toe，the angle between the second and the third toes 35°，and the angle between the third and fourth 45° also． The sauropod dinosaur preserved their tracks also． Their manus and footprints are 36 cm and 15 cm long respectively， which implies that they were left by mid-sized sauropod dinosaurs． The discovery of these footprints provides important information on reconstruction of paleobiogeography and paleoecology，and the discovery is very significant for searching of the dinosaur bones from this area in the near future．