Ornithopod (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) tracks from the Upper Cretaceous Zhutian Formation in the Nanxiong basin, Guangdong, China and generalobservations on large Chinese ornithopod footprints

Herein we describe three trackways that pertain to Hadrosauropodus nanxiongensis ichnosp. nov. from the Yangmeikeng track site in the Nanxiong Basin, Guangdong Province, China. The tracks occur in the Upper Cretaceous Zhutian Formation. The nearby Gushi track site preserves trackways attributable to Hadrosauropodus isp. These represent the first occurrences of hadrosaur footprints in China. These discoveries expand the known distribution of hadrosaur tracks from North America to China, and provide evidence for the existence of large hadrosaurs in the Cretaceous of the Nanxiong Basin. Other previously-described, large, ostensible ornithopod track occurrences in China are discussed: Sinoichnites is represented only by an informal “plastotype,” Yangtzepus is attributable to a theropod, and Iguanodonopus is considered a nomen nudum and its specimens attributable to Iguanodontipus. New specimens of Jiayinosauropus allow some redescription of the ichnotaxon, and the unnamed Neixiang footprint is redescribed.