Cast of a Tyrannosaurus rex footprint. Photo courtesy USGS.

No! It's Laoporus, a member of a primitive group of reptiles called the synapsids (sin-AP-sids). These creatures are not closely related either to dinosaurs nor to any living reptiles. However, this group does have one set of descendants—mammals, including us! Laoporus is a close relative to some of our more distant ancestors.

Laoporus tracks are among the most common fossil footprints around. In fact, its name means "stone tracks." Everything we know about this animal comes from studying its footprints—no bones have ever been found.

Fossil trails can lead to new discoveries

This fossil track way is the type specimen for the scorpion-like animal Permichnium coconinensis (per-MICK-nee-um co-co-nee-NEN-sis). That means this is the first evidence of this creature ever found. All future P. coconinensis fossils will be compared to this one for identification and study. That makes our fossil particularly important to science.

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