Dinosaur Tracks of the Areia do Mastro and Papo-Seco Formations (Lower Cretaceous, Cabo Espichel): Paleobiological and Paleoenvironmental Continuities and Discontinuities

New theropod tracks found in the Papo-Seco Formation (lower Barremian, Lusitanian Basin, Portugal) are presented. In 2022, thirteen theropod tracks were identified on the lowermost bed of this formation, preserved as natural cast infillings on the bedding surface. Two different morphotypes of theropod footprints have been identified, which occur at two different levels of this layer. The first morphotype, consisting of smaller footprints with narrow digits, is attributed to theropoda indet; the other morphotype, consisting only of one footprint, is assigned provisionally to the ichnogenus Megalosauripus isp. It is suggested that they were produced by medium-sized theropods, on a carbonate mud substrate, probably in a coastal environment associated with a lagoon. These tracks, and others previously described in the underlying Areia do Mastro Formation, suggest a temporal continuity of the groups of dinosaurs that frequented this area, during the early Barremian. However, the morphotypes now described differ from those of the theropods tracks from the Areia do Mastro Formation, which may indicate a change in faunal types within the theropod group.