Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T15:08:43.916Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A nest of Protoceratops andrewsi (Dinosauria, Ornithischia)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

D. E. Fastovsky ,
D. B. Weishampel ,
M. Watabe ,
R. Barsbold ,
Kh. Tsogtbaatar  and
P. Narmandakh
D. E. Fastovsky
Affiliation:
1Department of Geosciences, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881, USA,
D. B. Weishampel
Affiliation:
2Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA,
M. Watabe
Affiliation:
3Hayashibara Museum of Natural Sciences, 2-3. Shimoishii-1, Okayama 700-0907, Japan,
R. Barsbold
Affiliation:
4Director, Paleontological Center, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Peace Avenue 63 Ulaanbaatar 210351, Mongolia,
Kh. Tsogtbaatar
Affiliation:
5Paleontological Center, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Peace Avenue 63 Ulaanbaatar, Ulaanbaatar 210351, Mongolia,
P. Narmandakh
Affiliation:
6Paleontological Center, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar 210351, Mongolia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A remarkable specimen of the small neoceratopsian dinosaur Protoceratops andrewsi (Late Cretaceous, Mongolia) reveals the first nest of this genus, complete with fifteen juveniles. The relatively large size of the individuals and their advanced state of development suggests the possibility that Protoceratops juveniles remained and grew in their nests during at least the early stages of postnatal development. The nest further implies that parental care and sociality are phylogenetically basal behaviors in Ceratopsia. Finally, it reaffirms the conclusion that Protoceratops lived (and died) in the sandy aeolian dune fields of the central Asian craton.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 85 , Issue 6 , November 2011 , pp. 1035 - 1041
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrews, R. C. 1932. The New Conquest of Central Asia. American Museum of Natural History Press, New York, 678 p.Google Scholar
Andrews, R. C. 1933. Explorations in the Gobi Desert and Nomad Life and Fossil Treasures of Mongolia. National Geographic, 63: 653–716.Google Scholar
Balanoff, A. M., Norell, M. A., Grellet-Tinner, G., and Lewin, M. R. 2008. Digital preparation of a probable neoceratopsian preserved within an egg, with comments on microstructural anatomy of ornithischian dinosaurs. Naturwissenschaften, 95: 493–500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barsbold, R., Badamgarav, D., Tsogtbaatar, K.H., Gansukh, S.H., Bazarragchaa, T.S. 2008. Cretaceous non-marine sediments and dinosaur localities in Ulaan Nuur depression, south Mongolia. IGSP 507 Fieldtrip Guidebook, p. 1–24.Google Scholar
Berkey, C. P. and Morris, F. K. 1927. Geology of Mongolia. In Natural History of Central Asia, Vol. II. American Museum of Natural History Press, New York, 427 p.Google Scholar
Brown, B. and Schlaikjer, E. M. 1940. The structure and relationships of Protoceratops . Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 40: 133–266.Google Scholar
Chiappe, L., Schmidt, J. G., Jackson, F. D., Garrido, A., Dingus, L., and Grellet-Tinner, G. 2004. Nest structure for sauropods: sedimentary criteria for recognition of dinosaur nesting traces. Palaios, 19: 89–95.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chure, D., Turner, C., and Peterson, F. 1994. An embryo of Camptosaurus from the Morrison Formation (Jurassic, middle Tithonian) in Dinosaur National Monument, Utah, p. 298–311. In Carpenter, K., Hirsch, K. F., and Horner, J. R., (eds.), Dinosaur Eggs and Babies, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Dashzeveg, D., Dingus, L., Loope, D. B., Swisher, C. C. III, Dulam, T., and Sweeney, M. R. 2005. New stratigraphic subdivision, depositional environment, and age estimate for the Upper Cretaceous Djadokhta Formation, southern Ulan Nur Basin, Mongolia. American Museum of Natural History Novitates, 3498: 1–31.Google Scholar
Dingus, L., Loope, D. B., Swisher, C. C. III, Minjin, C., Novacek, M. J., and Norell, M. A. 2008. The geology of Ukhaa Tolgod (Djadokhta Formation, Upper Cretaceous, Nemegt Basin, Mongolia). American Museum of Natural History Novitates, 3616: 1–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dodson, P. 1976. Quantitative aspects of relative growth and sexual dimorphism in Protoceratops . Journal of Paleontology, 50: 929–940.Google Scholar
Dodson, P. 1996. The Horned Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 346 p.Google Scholar
Dodson, P., Forster, C. A., and Sampson, S. D. 2004. Ceratopsidae, p. 494–513. In Weishampel, D. B., Dodson, P., Olsmolska, H., (eds.), The Dinosauria. Univ. of California Press, Berkeley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dong, Z.-M. and Currie, P. J. 1993. Protoceratopsian embryos from Inner Mongolia. Canadian Journal of Earth Science, 30: 2248–2254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eberth, D. A. 1993. Depositional environments and facies transitions of dinosaur-bearing Upper Cretaceous redbeds at Bayan Mandahu (Inner Monglia, People's Republic of China). Canadian Journal of Earth Science, 30: 2196–2213.Google Scholar
Erickson, G. M., Makovicky, P. J., Inouye, B. D., Zhou, C.-F., and Gao, K.-Q. 2009. A life table for Psittacosaurus lujiatunensis: Initial insights into ornithischian dinosaur population biology. Anatomical Record, 292: 1514–1521.Google Scholar
Fastovsky, D. E., Badamgarav, D., Ishimoto, H., Watabe, M., and Weishampel, D. B. 1997. The paleoenvironments of Tugrikin-shireh (Gobi Desert, Monglia) and aspects of the taphonomy and paleoecology of Protoceratops (Dinosauria: Ornithischia). Palaios, 12: 59–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gao, K. and Norell, M. A. 2000. Taxonomic composition and systematics of Late Cretaceous lizard assemblages from Ukhaa Tolgod and adjacent localities, Mongolian Gobi Desert. American Museum Natural History Bulletin, 249: 1–118.Google Scholar
Granger, W. and Gregory, W. K. 1923. Protoceratops andrewsi, a preceratopsian dinosaur from Mongolia. American Museum of Natural History Novitates, 72: 1–9.Google Scholar
Horner, J. R. 1984. The nesting behavior of dinosaurs. Scientific American, 250: 130–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horner, J. R. and Makela, R. 1979. Nest of juveniles provides evidence of family structure among dinosaurs. Nature, 282: 296–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horner, J. R. and Weishampel, D. B. 1988. A comparative embryological study of two ornithischian dinosaurs. Nature, 332: 256–257.Google Scholar
Horner, J. R. 2000. Dinosaur reproduction and parenting. Annual Reviews of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 28: 19–45.Google Scholar
Horner, J. R., Padian, K., and DeRicqlés, A. 2001. Comparative osteo-histology of some embryonic and perinatal archosaurs: phylogenetic and behavioral implications for dinosaurs. Paleobiology, 27: 39–58.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ishii, K., Watabe, M., Suzuki, S., Ishigaki, S., Barsbold, R., and Tsogtbaatar, KH. (eds.). 2000. Results of Hayashibara Museum of Natural Sciences and Mongolian Academy of Sciences and Mongolian Paleontological Center Joint Paleontological Expedition. Hayashibara Museum of Natural Sciences Research Bulletin, 1: 1–137.Google Scholar
Jerzykiewicz, T., Currie, P. J., Eberth, D. A., Johnston, P. S., 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 Science, 30: 2180–2190.Google Scholar
Lambert, O., Godefroit, P., Li, H., Shang, C.-Y., and Dong, Z.-M. 2001. A new species of Protoceratops (Dinosauria, Neoceratopsia) from the Late Cretaceous of Inner Mongolia (P. R. China). Bull. Inst. Roy. Sci. Nat. Belg. Sci. Terre, 71: 5–28.Google Scholar
Long, J. A. and McNamara, K. J. 1995. Heterochrony in dinosaur evolution, p. 151–168. In McNamara, K. J., (ed), Evolutionary Change and Heterochrony. Wiley, London.Google Scholar
Loope, D. A., Dingus, L., Swisher, C. C. III, and Minjin, C. 1998. Life and death in a Late Cretaceous dune field, Nemegt basin, Mongolia. Geology, 26: 27–30.Google Scholar
Makovicky, P. J., Sadler, R., Dodson, P., Erickson, G. M., and Norell, M. A. 2007. Life history of Protoceratops andrewsi from Bayn Zag, Mongolia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 27: 109A.Google Scholar
Marsh, O. C. 1890. Additional characters of the Ceratopsidae, with notice of new Cretaceous dinosaurs. American Journal of Science, Series 3, 39: 418–426.Google Scholar
Meng, Q., Liu, J., Varricchio, D. J., Huang, T., and Gao, C. 2004. Parental care in an ornithischian dinosaur. Nature, 431: 145–146.Google Scholar
Osmólska, H. 1993. Were the Mongolian “fighting dinosaurs” really fighting? Rev. Paléobiol. vol. spéc., 7: 161–162.Google Scholar
Saneyoshi, M. and Watabe, M. 2007. Paleo-wind direction of the Upper Cretaceous Djadokhta Formation in central part of the Gobi desert, Mongolia. Journal of the Geological Society of Japan, 113: V–VI.Google Scholar
Sereno, P. C. 1986. Phylogeny of the bird-hipped dinosaurs (Order Ornisthischia). National Geographic Research, 2: 234–256.Google Scholar
Sereno, P. C. 2000. The fossil record, systematics, and evolution of of pachycephalosaurs and ceratopsians from Asia, p. 480–516. In Benton, M. J., Shishkin, M. A., Unwin, D. M., and Kurochkin, E. N. (eds.), The Age of Dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K. Google Scholar
Thulborn, A. 1992. Nest of the dinosaur Protoceratops . Lethaia, 25: 145–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turner, A. H., Pol, D., Clarke, J. A., Erickson, G. M., and Norell, M. A. 2007. A basal dromaeosaurid and size evolution preceding avian flight. Science, 317: 1378–1381.Google Scholar
Unwin, D. M., Perle, A., and Trueman, C. 1995. Protoceratops and Velociraptor preserved in association: evidence for predatory behavior in dromaeosaurid dinosaurs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 15(Suppl. to 3): 57A–58A.Google Scholar
Weishampel, D. B. and Horner, J. R. 1986. The hadrosaurid dinosaurs from the Iren Dabasu fauna (People's Repubic of China, Late Cretaceous). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 6: 38–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weishampel, D. B., Fastovsky, D. E., Watabe, M., Barsbold, R., and Tsogtbaatar, KH. 2000. New embryonic and hatchling dinosaur remains from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 20(suppl. to 3): 78A.Google Scholar
You, H. and Dodson, P. 2004. Basal Ceratopsia, p. 478–493. In Weishampel, D. B., Dodson, P., and Olsmolska, H., (eds.), The Dinosauria. Univ. of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Zhao, Q., Barrett, P., and Eberth, D. A. 2007. Social behaviour and mass mortality in the basal ceratopsian dinosaur Psittacosaurus (Early Cretaceous, People's Republic of China). Palaeontology, 50: 1023–1029.Google Scholar