Dinosaur eggshell assemblage from Japan reveals unknown diversity of small theropods

作者：Tanaka Kohei^*; Zelenitsky Darla K; Saegusa Haruo; Ikeda Tadahiro; DeBuhr Christopher L; Therrien Francois

来源：Cretaceous Research, 2016, 57: 350-363.

DOI：10.1016/j.cretres.2015.06.002

• Dinosaur
• Egg mass estimation
• Eggshell
• Japan
• Lower Cretaceous
• Sasayama Group

The Lower Cretaceous (Albian) Sasayama Group in the Hyogo Prefecture of southwestern Japan has yielded various vertebrate fossils, including skeletal remains of dinosaurs, anurans, lizards, and mammals, and recently eggshell fragments. Here we report on numerous fossil eggshells from the bone-bearing Kamitaki locality in Tamba City, which represents a diverse dinosaur eggshell assemblage. Of the more than 90 eggshell fragments recovered, five different types were identified, including eggshells that likely belong to a variety of theropods (Nipponoolithus ramosus oogen. et oosp. nov., Elongatoolithus sp., Prismatoolithus sp., and Prismatoolithidae indet.) and at least one ornithopod (Spheroolithus sp.). All eggshells are relatively thin, and a new derived estimation method correlating egg mass with eggshell thickness indicates that they are among the smallest (28-135 g) theropod eggs known, likely laid by small bodied forms. The eggshell assemblage from this locality suggests that a diverse small dinosaur fauna, consisting primarily of theropods, nested in the region, a diversity yet to be evidenced from skeletal remains in Japan.

• 出版日期2016-1