Hatching Asynchrony in Oviraptorid Dinosaurs Sheds Light on Their Unique Nesting Biology.

ABSTRACT: Dinosaur nesting biology has been an intriguing research topic, though dinosaur behaviors were relatively less illuminated because of the constraints of the fossil record. For instance, hatching asynchrony, where eggs in a single clutch hatch at different times, is unique to modern neoavian birds but was also suggested to be present in oviraptorid dinosaurs based on a possible partial clutch of four embryo-containing eggs from Mongolia. Unfortunately, unequivocal evidence for the origination of these eggs from a single clutch is lacking. Here we report a new, better preserved partial oviraptorid clutch with three embryo-containing eggs-a single egg (Egg I) and a pair (Egg II/III)-from the Late Cretaceous Nanxiong Group of Jiangxi Province, China. Geopetal features indicate that the pair of

SUBMITTER: Yang TR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7671163 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature