An extraordinary fossil captures the struggle for existence during the Mesozoic.

ABSTRACT: Dinosaurs and mammals have coexisted for the last ~ 230 million years. Both groups arose during the Late Triassic and diversified throughout the Mesozoic and into the Cenozoic (the latter in the form of birds). Although they undoubtedly interacted in many ways, direct fossil evidence for their interaction is rare. Here we report a new fossil find from the Lujiatun Member of the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of China, showing a gobiconodontid mammal and psittacosaurid dinosaur locked in mortal combat. We entertain various hypothesized explanations for this association, but the balance of the evidence suggests that it represents a predation attempt on the part of the smaller mammal, suddenly interrupted by, and preserved within, a lahar-type volcanic debris flow. Mesozoic mammals are usu

SUBMITTER: Han G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10354204 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature