Mud-trapped herd captures evidence of distinctive dinosaur sociality

• Autorzy: Varricchio D.J. , Sereno P.C. , Xijin Z. , Lin T. , Wilson J.A. , Lyon G.H.
• Języki publikacji: EN

Abstrakty

EN

A unique dinosaur assemblage from the Cretaceous beds of western Inner Mongolia preserves geologic and paleontologic data that clearly delineate both the timing and mechanism of death. Over twenty individuals of the ornithomimid Sinornithomimus dongi perished while trapped in the mud of a drying lake or pond, the proximity and alignment of the mired skeletons indicating a catastrophic mass mortality of a social group. Histologic examination reveals the group to consist entirely of immature individuals between one and seven years of age, with no hatchlings or mature individuals. The Sinornithomimus locality supports the interpretation of other, more taphonomically ambiguous assemblages of immature dinosaurs as reflective of juvenile sociality. Adults of various nonavian dinosaurs are known to have engaged in prolonged nesting and post hatching parental care, a life history strategy that implies juveniles spent considerable time away from reproductively active adults. Herding of juveniles, here documented in a Cretaceous ornithomimid, may have been a common life history strategy among nonavian dinosaurs reflecting their oviparity, extensive parental care, and multi−year maturation.

Słowa kluczowe

EN

Cretaceous; dinosaur; sociality; Dinosauria; Ornithomimosauria; taphonomy; drought; Sinornithomimus dongi; paleontology; fossil assemblage

• Wydawca: -
• Czasopismo: Acta Palaeontologica Polonica
• Rocznik: 2008
• Tom: 53
• Numer: 4
• Opis fizyczny: p.567-578,fig.,ref.

Twórcy

autor

Varricchio D.J.

• Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA

autor

Sereno P.C.

autor

Xijin Z.

autor

Lin T.

autor

Wilson J.A.

autor

Lyon G.H.

Bibliografia

• Agenbroad, L.D. 1984. Hot Springs, South Dakota. Entrapment and taphonomy of Columbian mammoth. In: P.S. Martin and R.G. Klein (eds.), Quaternary Extinctions: A Prehistoric Revolution, 113–127. University of Arizona, Tucson.
• Allison, P.A. 1988. The role of anoxia in the decay and mineralization of proteinaceous macro−fossils. Paleobiology 14: 139–154.
• Behrensmeyer, A.K. 1978. Taphonomic and ecologic information from bone weathering. Paleobiology 4: 150–162.
• Berger, J., Dulamtseren, S., Cain, S., Enkkhbileg, D., Lichtman, P., Namshir, Z., Wingard, G., and Reading, R. 2001. Back−casting sociality in extinct species: new perspectives using mass death assemblages and sex ratios. Proceedings of the Royal Society London B 268: 131–139.
• Bilbey, S.A. 1999. Taphonomy of the Cleveland−Lloyd dinosaur quarry in the Morrison Formation, central Utah—a lethal spring−fed pond. Miscellaneous Publications, Utah Geological Survey 99−1: 121–133.
• Boarman, W.I. and Heinrich, B. 1999. Common raven (Corvus corax). In: A. Poole (ed.), The Birds of North America Online, no. 476. Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/476.
• Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources of Nei Mongol 1991. Regional Geology of Nei Mongol (Inner Mongolia) Autonomous Region. People’s Republic of China, Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources, Geological Memoirs 1: 1–725.
• Currie, P.J. 2000. Possible evidence of gregarious behavior in tyrannosaurids. Gaia 15: 271–278.
• Currie, P.J. and Dodson, P. 1984. Mass death of a herd of ceratopsian dinosaurs. In: W.−E. Reif and F. Westphal (eds.), Third Symposium of Mesozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems, 52–60. Attempto Verlag, Tübingen.
• Davies, S.J.J.F. 2002. Ratites and Tinamous. 310 pp. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• Eberth, D.A. and Getty, M.A. 2005. Ceratopsian bonebeds: Occurrence, origins, and significance. In: P.J. Currie and E.B. Kopplhus (eds.), Dinosaur Provincial Park: A Spectacular Ancient Ecosystem Revealed, 501–536. Indiana University Press, Bloomington.
• Eberth, D.A., Britt, B.B., Scheetz, R., Stadtman, K.L., and Brinkman, D.B. 2006. Dalton Wells: geology and significance of debris−flow−hosted dinosaur bonebeds in the Cedar Mountain Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of eastern Utah, USA. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 236: 217–245.
• Erickson, G.M. 2005. Assessing dinosaur growth patterns: A microscopic revolution. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 20: 677–684.
• Erickson, G., Currie, P.J., Inouye, B.D., and Winn, A.A. 2006. Tyrannosaur life tables: an example of nonavian dinosaur population biology. Science 313: 213–217.
• Erickson, G.M., Rogers, K.C., Varricchio, D.J., Norell, M.A., and Xu, X. 2008. Growth patterns in brooding dinosaurs reveals the timing if sexual maturity in non−avian dinosaurs and genesis of the avian condition. Biology Letters 3: 558–561.
• Faux C.M. and Padian, K. 2007. The opisthotonic posture of vertebrate skeletons: postmortem contraction or death throes?Paleobiology 33: 201–226.
• Fiorillo, A.R. and Eberth, D.A. 2004. Dinosaur taphonomy. In: D.B. Weishampel, P. Dodson, and H. Osmólska (eds.), The Dinosauria, 2nd Edition, 607–613. University of California Press, Berkeley.
• Forster, C.A. 1990. Evidence for juvenile groups in the ornithopod dinosaur Tenontosaurus tilletti Ostrom. Journal of Paleontology 64: 164–165.
• Garrison, J.R. Jr., Brinkman, D., Nichols, D.J., Layer, P., Burge, D., and Thayn, D. 2007. A multidisciplinary study of the Lower Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation, Mussentuchit Wash, Utah: a determination of the paleoenvironment and paleoecology of the Eolambia caroljonesa dinosaur quarry. Cretaceous Research 28: 461–494.
• Gates, T.A. 2005. The Late Jurassic Cleveland−Lloyd dinosaur quarry as a drought−induced assemblage. Palaios 20: 363–375.
• Gilmore, C.W. 1917. Brachyceratops, a ceratopsian dinosaur from the Two Medicine Formation of Montana with notes on associated reptiles. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 103: 1–45.
• Haynes, G. 1988. Mass deaths and serial predation: Comparative taphonomic studies of modern large−mammal deathsites. Journal of Archaeological Science 15: 219–235.
• Horner, J.R. 2000. Dinosaur reproduction and parenting. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 28: 19–45.
• Hulbert, R.C. Jr. 1982. Population dynamics of the three−toed horse Neohipparion from the late Miocene of Florida. Paleobiology 8: 159–167.
• Jerzykiewicz, T. 2000. Lithostratigraphy and sedimentary settings of the Cretaceous dinosaur beds of Mongolia. In: M.J. Benton, M.A. Shishkin, D.M. Unwin, and E.N. Kurochkin (eds.), The Age of Dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia, 279–296. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
• Jerzykiewicz, T., Currie, P.J., Eberth, D.A., Johnston, P.A., Koster, E.H., and Zheng, J.−J. 1993. Djadokhta Formation correlative strata in Chinese Inner Mongolia: an overview of the stratigraphy, sedimentary geology, and paleontology and comparisons with the type locality in the pre−Altai Gobi. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 30: 2180–2195.
• Ji, Q., Norell, M.A., Makovicky, P.J., Gao, K., Ji, S., and Yuan, C. 2003. An early ostrich dinosaur and implication for ornithomimosaur phylogeny. American Museum Novitates 3420: 1–19.
• Klein, R.G. 1982. Patterns of ungulate mortality and ungulate mortality profiles from Langebaanweg (early Pliocene) and Elandsfontein (middle Pleistocene), south−western Cape Province, South Africa. Annals of the South African Museum 90 (2): 49–94.
• Kobayashi, Y. and Lü, J.−C. 2003. A new ornithomimid dinosaur with gregarious habits from the Late Cretaceous of China. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 48: 235–259.
• Kobayashi, Y., Lü, J.−C., Dong, Z.−M., Barsbold, R., Azuma, Y., and Tomida, Y. 1999. Herbivorous diet in an ornithomimid dinosaur. Nature 402: 480–481.
• Lamm, E.T. 1999. Histological techniques for small paleontological specimens. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 19: 58A.
• Lamm, E.T. 2001. Put it back the way you found it: restoration of histological fossil specimens. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 21: 71A.
• Lang, J.W. 1989. Social behavior.In:C.A. Ross and S. Garnett (eds.), Crocodiles and Alligators, 102–117. Facts on File, New York.
• Lehman, T.M. 2006. Growth and population age structure in the horned dinosaur Chasmosaurus. In: K. Carpenter (ed.), Horns and Beaks: Ceratopsian and Ornithopod Dinosaurs, 259–317. Indiana University Press, Bloomington.
• Lyman, L.R. 1994. Vertebrate Taphonomy. 524 pp. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
• Melchor, R.N., Bedatou, E., Valais, S. de, and Genise, J.F. 2006. Lithofacies distribution of invertebrate and vertebrate trace−fossil assemblages in an early Mesozoic ephemeral fluvio−lacustrine system from Argentina: Implications for the Scoyenia ichnofacies. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 239: 253–285.
• Meng, Q., Liu, J., Varricchio, D.J., Huang, T., and Gao, C. 2004. Parental care in an ornithischian dinosaur. Nature 431: 145–146.
• Miall, A.D. 1996. The Geology of Fluvial Deposits: Sedimentary Facies, Basin Analysis, and Petroleum Geology. 582 pp. Springer−Verlag, Berlin.
• Milàn, J. and Bromley, R.G. 2008. The impact of sediment consistency on track and undertrack morphology: Experiments with emu tracks in layered cement. Ichnos 15: 19–27.
• Myers, T.S. and Storrs, G.W. 2007. Taphonomy of the Mother's Day Quarry, Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation, south−central Montana, USA. Palaios 22: 651–666.
• Norell, M.A., Clark, J.M., Chiappe, L.M., and Dashzeveg, D. 1995. A nesting dinosaur. Nature 378: 774–776.
• Norell, M.A., Makovicky, P.J. and Currie, P.J. 2004. The beaks of ostrich dinosaurs. Nature 412: 873–874.
• Norman, D.B. 1987. A mass−accumulation of vertebrates from the Lower Cretaceous of Nehden (Sauerland), West Germany. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 230: 215–255.
• Ostrom, J.H. 1986. Social and unsocial behavior in dinosaurs. In: M.H. Nitecki and J.A. Kitchell (eds.), Evolution of Animal Behavior, 41–61. Oxford University Press, Cambridge.
• Paik, I.S. 2000. Bone chip−filled burrows associated with bored dinosaur bone in floodplain paleosols of the Cretaceous Hasandong Formation, Korea. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 157: 213–225.
• Patterson, J.R., Jago, J.B., Brock, G.A., and Gehling, J.G. 2007. Taphonomy and palaeoecology of the emuellid trilobite Balcoracania dailyi (Early Cambrian, South Australia). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 157: 213–225.
• Retallack, G.J. 1990. Soils of the Past. 520 pp. Unwin Hyman, Boston.
• Ricqlès, A.J. de 1980. Tissue structures of dinosaur bone: functional significance and possible relation to dinosaur physiology. In: D.K. Thomas and E.C. Olson (eds.), A Cold Look at the Warm−blooded Dinosaurs, 104–140. Westview Press, Boulder.
• Roach, B.T. and Brinkman, D.L. 2007. A reevaluation of cooperative pack hunting and gregariousness in Deinonychus antirrhopus and other nonavian theropod dinosaurs. Bulletin. Peabody Museum of Natural History 48: 103–138.
• Rogers, R.R. 1990. Taphonomy of three dinosaur bone beds in the Upper Cretaceous Two Medicine Formation of northwestern Montana: evidence for drought−related mortality. Palaios 5: 394–413.
• Ryan, M.J., Russell, A.P., Eberth, D.A., and Currie, P.J. 2001. The taphonomy of aCentrosaurus(Ornithischia: Ceratopsidae) bone bed from the Dinosaur Park Formation (Upper Campanian), Alberta, Canada, with comments on cranial ontogeny. Palaios 16: 482–506.
• Sander, P.M. 1992. The Norian Plateosaurus bonebeds of central Europe and their taphonomy. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 93: 255–299.
• Sander, P.M., Peitz, C., Jackson, F., and Chiappe, L. 2008. Upper Cretaceous titanosaur nesting sites and their implications for sauropod reproductive biology. Palaentographica A 284: 69–107.
• Scherzer, B. 2008. Taphonomy of the Sun River Bonebed, Late Cretaceous (Campanian) Two Medicine Formation of Montana. 108 pp. Unpublished Master's thesis, Montana State University, Bozeman.
• Scherzer, B. and Varricchio, D.J. 2005. Taphonomy of a juvenile lambeosaur bonebed in the Two Medicine Formation of Montana. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 25: 110A.
• Schwartz, H.L. and Gillette, D.D. 1994. Geology and taphonomy of the Coelophysis quarry, Upper Triassic Chinle Formation, Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. Journal of Paleontology 68: 1118–1130.
• Shipman, P. 1975. Implications of drought for vertebrate fossil assemblages. Nature 257: 667–668.
• Speyer, S.E. 1991. Trilobite taphonomy: a basis for comparative studies of arthropod preservation, functional anatomy and behavior. In: S.K. Donovan (ed.), The Process of Fossilization, 194–219. Columbia University Press, New York.
• Speyer, S.E. and Brett, C.E. 1985. Clustered trilobite assemblages in the Middle Devonian Hamilton Group. Lethaia 18: 85–103.
• Stirling, E.C. 1894. The recent discovery of fossil remains of Lake Callabonna, South Australia. Nature 50: 184–188.
• Suarez, C.A., Suarez, M.A., Terry, D.O. Jr., and Grandstaff, D.E. 2007. Rare earth element geochemistry and taphonomy of the Early Cretaceous Crystal Geyser Dinosaur Quarry. Palaios 22: 500–512.
• Suarez, M.A., Suarez, C.A., Kirkland, J.I., González, L.A., Grandstaff, D.E., and Terry, D.O. Jr. 2007. Sedimentology, stratigraphy, and depositional environment of the Crystal Geyser Dinosaur Quarry, east−central Utah. Palaios 22: 513–527.
• Thorbjarnarson, J.B. and Hernandez, G. 1993. Reproductive ecology of the Orinoco crocodile (Crocodylus intermedius) in Venezuela. II. Reproductive and social behavior. Journal of Herpetology 27: 371–379.
• Tinn, O. and Meidla, T. 2003. Ontogeny and thanatocoenoses of early Middle Ordovician palaeoscope ostracode species Brezelina palmata (Krause, 1889) and Ogmoopsis bocki (Öpik, 1935). Journal of Paleontology 77: 64–72.
• Varricchio, D.J. and Horner, J.R. 1993. Hadrosaurid and lambeosaurid bone beds from the Upper Cretaceous Two Medicine Formation of Montana: taphonomic and biologic implications. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 31: 997–1006.
• Varricchio, D.J., Martin, A., and Katsura, Y. 2007. First trace and body fossil evidence of a burrowing, denning dinosaur. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 274: 1361–1368.
• Voorhies, M.R. 1969. Taphonomy and population dynamics of an early Pliocene vertebrate fauna, Knox County, Nebraska. University Wyoming Contributions to Geology, Special Paper 1: 1–69.
• Voorhies, M.R. 1985. A Miocene rhinoceros herd buried in volcanic ash. National Geographic Society Research Reports 19: 671–688.
• Weigelt, J. 1989. Recent Vertebrate Carcasses and their Paleobiological Implications. 188 pp. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
• White, P.D., Fastovsky, D.E., and Sheehan, P.M. 1998. Taphonomy and suggested structure of the dinosaurian assemblage of the Hell Creek Formation (Maastrichtian), eastern Montana and western North Dakota. Palaios 13: 41–51.
• Wilson, J.W. 1993. Histological techniques. In: P. Leiggi and P. May (eds.), Vertebrate Paleontological Techniques, 205–234. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
• Zanno, L. and Erickson, G. 2006. Ontogeny and life history of Falcarius utahensis, a primitive therizinosauroid from the Early Cretaceous of Utah. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 26:143A.
• Zhao, Q., Barrett, P.M., and Eberth, D.A. 2007. Social behaviour and mass mortality in the basal ceratopsian dinosaur Psittacosaurus (Early Cretaceous, People's Republic of China). Paleontology 50: 1023–1029.