A new two-fingered dinosaur sheds light on the radiation of Oviraptorosauria. Issue 10 (7th October 2020)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- A new two-fingered dinosaur sheds light on the radiation of Oviraptorosauria. Issue 10 (7th October 2020)
- Main Title:
- A new two-fingered dinosaur sheds light on the radiation of Oviraptorosauria
- Authors:
- Funston, Gregory F.
Chinzorig, Tsogtbaatar
Tsogtbaatar, Khishigjav
Kobayashi, Yoshitsugu
Sullivan, Corwin
Currie, Philip J. - Abstract:
- Abstract : Late Cretaceous trends in Asian dinosaur diversity are poorly understood, but recent discoveries have documented a radiation of oviraptorosaur theropods in China and Mongolia. However, little work has addressed the factors that facilitated this diversification. A new oviraptorid from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia sheds light on the evolution of the forelimb, which appears to have played a role in the radiation of oviraptorosaurs. Surprisingly, the reduced arm has only two functional digits, highlighting a previously unrecognized occurrence of digit loss in theropods. Phylogenetic analysis shows that the onset of this reduction coincides with the radiation of heyuannine oviraptorids, following dispersal from southern China into the Gobi region. This suggests expansion into a new niche in the Gobi region, which relied less on the elongate, grasping forelimbs inherited by oviraptorosaurs. Variation in forelimb length and manus morphology provides another example of niche partitioning in oviraptorosaurs, which may have made possible their incredible diversity in the latest Cretaceous of Asia.
- Is Part Of:
- Royal Society open science. Volume 7:Issue 10(2020)
- Journal:
- Royal Society open science
- Issue:
- Volume 7:Issue 10(2020)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 7, Issue 10 (2020)
- Year:
- 2020
- Volume:
- 7
- Issue:
- 10
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2020-0007-0010-0000
- Page Start:
- Page End:
- Publication Date:
- 2020-10-07
- Subjects:
- Oviraptoridae -- Late Cretaceous -- Theropoda -- digit reduction -- forelimb evolution
Science -- Periodicals
500 - Journal URLs:
- https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsos ↗
- DOI:
- 10.1098/rsos.201184 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 2054-5703
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library STI - ELD Digital store
- Ingest File:
- 16347.xml