Niche Partitioning in Theropod Dinosaurs: Diet and Habitat Preference in Predators from the Uppermost Cedar Mountain Formation (Utah, U.S.A.).

ABSTRACT: We explore hypothetical ecologies to explain diversity among predatory dinosaurs in North America's medial Cretaceous, based on occurrence, tooth morphology, and stable isotope analysis. The Mussentuchit local fauna, Utah, USA, is among the best-known terrestrial vertebrate assemblages from the Cretaceous. Study samples include teeth from six microvertebrate sites, ranging in depositional setting from distal floodplain to channel lags. We recognize four theropod morphotypes: a comparatively large theropod (morph 1), a medium-sized dromaeosaurid (morph 2), a small dromaeosaurid (morph 3), and a tooth-morph similar to the genus Richardoestesia (morph 4). These four morphotypes vary significantly in mean size, from 15.1 mm in the largest theropod to 3.7 mm in Richardoestesia. Further, tooth r

SUBMITTER: Frederickson JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6294763 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature