Scientists have found a 70-million-year-old fossilized dinosaur sitting on a nest of its eggs containing fossilized embryos.
“Dinosaurs kept on their nests are rare, as are fossil embryos,” said co-principal investigator Shundong Bi, a professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and research associate at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH). “This is the first time a non-avian dinosaur has been found sitting on a nest of eggs containing embryos in a single spectacular specimen.” The dinosaur and its descendants were found in China’s Jiangxi province.
From the Carnegie Museum of Natural History:
The fossil in question is that of an oviraptorosaur, a group of bird-like theropod dinosaurs that flourished during the Cretaceous, the third and final period of the Mesozoic (commonly known as the “ Age of Dinosaurs ”), which spanned from 145 to 66 million years. ago. CMNH’s famous “Chicken from Hell”, Anzu watch, is another type of oviraptorosaur. However, while Anzu Part of the largely North American oviraptorosaur subgroup Caenagnathidae, the new fossil is part of another large subgroup, the Oviraptoridae, so far only found in Asia. The new specimen was extracted from the upper Cretaceous rocks, some 70 million years old, in the city of Ganzhou in Jiangxi province in southern China.
The fossil consists of an incomplete skeleton of a large, presumably adult oviraptorid crouched in a birdlike brooding position over a clutch of at least 24 eggs. At least seven of these eggs store bones or partial skeletons of unshaded oviraptoride embryos inside. The late stage of development of the embryos and the adult’s proximity to the eggs strongly suggests that the latter died while hatching from its nest, like its modern cousins, rather than laying its eggs or simply guarding its nest crocodile. style, as has sometimes been suggested for the few other oviraptorid skeletons found on top of nests.
“This kind of discovery – essentially petrified behavior – is the rarest of the rare in dinosaurs,” explains [CMNH co-interim director and lead dinosaur paleontologist Matt] Lamanna. Although a few adult oviraptorids have previously been found on nests of their eggs, no embryos have ever been found in those eggs. for quite a long time. This dinosaur was a caring parent who eventually gave his life while nursing his young. “
photo: Shundong Bi, Indiana University of Pennsylvania