New Bathonian (Middle Jurassic) sauropod remains from the Valtos Formation, Isle of Skye, Scotland

Abstract

The discovery of a sauropod tooth and a single sauropod footprint from the Valtos Formation supplements our knowledge of these dinosaurs from the Middle Jurassic of the Isle of Skye. Although the family cannot be determined from this single tooth, it is thought that it represents a primitive eusauropod and may belong to a similar sauropod to that previously described from limited isolated osteological evidence (caudal vertebra, damaged humerus and a rib). The characteristics that suggest this affinity include evidence of denticles on one edge of the tooth, wrinkling and granulation of the enamel, wear suggesting crown-to-crown occlusion, and the spatulate tooth shape. The single sauropod footprint is the oldest record of a sauropod footprint from the Middle Jurassic of Skye. Supplementary material: Surface models of the sauropod footprint from the Valtos Formation produced using Agisoft Photoscan software in obj, ply and stl formats are available at: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3435984