首页|Exceptional Early Jurassic fossils with leathery eggs shed light on dinosaur reproductive biology

Exceptional Early Jurassic fossils with leathery eggs shed light on dinosaur reproductive biology

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Our understanding of pre-Cretaceous dinosaur reproduction is hindered by a scarcity of evidence within fossil records.Here we report three adult skeletons and five clutches of embryo-containing eggs of a new sauropodomorph from the Lower Jurassic of southwestern China,displaying several significant reproductive features that are either unknown or unlike other early-diverging sauropodomorphs,such as relatively large eggs with a relatively thick calcareous shell formed by prominent mammillary cones,synchronous hatching and a transitional prehatching posture between the crocodilians and living birds.Most significantly,these Early Jurassic fossils provide strong evidence for the earliest known leathery eggs.Our comprehensive quantitative analyses demonstrate that the first dinosaur eggs were probably leathery,elliptical and relatively small,but with relatively long eggshell units,and that along the line to living birds,the most significant change in reptilian egg morphology occurred early in theropod evolution rather than near the origin of Aves.

dinosaursauropodomorphJurassicembryoegg evolutionreproductive behavior

Fenglu Han、Yilun Yu、Shukang Zhang、Rong Zeng、Xinjin Wang、Huiyang Cai、Tianzhuang Wu、Yingfeng Wen、Sifu Cai、Chun Li、Rui Wu、Qi Zhao、Xing Xu

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School of Earth Sciences,China University of Geosciences(Wuhan),Wuhan 430074,China

Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins,Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100044,China

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 101408,China

Guizhou Provincial Museum,Guiyang 550081,China

Guizhou Provincial Institute of Cultural Relicsand Archaeology,Guiyang 550001,China

Pingba Institute of Cultural Relics Administration,Anshun 550820,China

Centre for Vertebrate Evolutionary Biology,Yunnan University,Kunming 650091,China

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National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaNational Natural Science Foundation of ChinaNational Natural Science Foundation of ChinaNational Natural Science Foundation of China

42288201423720364168810341972021

2024

10.1093/nsr/nwad258

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ISSN：
年,卷(期)：2024.11(6)