Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
PLoS One. 2013;8(3):e58853. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0058853. Epub 2013 Mar 12.
Bonebeds can provide a wealth of anatomical, taphonomic, and ontogenetic information about the specimens preserved within them, and can provide evidence for inferred behavior. The material described here represents the first known bonebed of ornithomimids in North America, and the fourth record of an ornithomimosaur bonebed in the world. Partial skeletons representing three individuals are preserved in this assemblage, each comprising primarily portions of the posterior postcrania (pelvis, hind limbs and tail). All three individuals are morphologically similar, although one is larger in overall size. Given the stratigraphic position of the site, and the morphology of the postcrania, the preserved material represents a taxon from the clade containing Ornithomimus and Struthiomimus. Pedal ungual morphology is examined and found to be too variable to be useful in distinguishing these species taxonomically. This site provides additional evidence of gregarious behavior in ornithomimids and the first probable record of that behavior in North American forms.
骨床可以为保存在其中的标本提供丰富的解剖学、埋藏学和个体发生学信息,并为推断的行为提供证据。这里描述的材料代表了北美的第一个已知的似鸟龙类骨床,也是世界上第四个似鸟龙类骨床的记录。这个组合中保存了三个个体的部分骨骼,每个个体主要由后体腔(骨盆、后肢和尾巴)的部分组成。所有三个个体在形态上都很相似,尽管有一个个体在整体大小上更大。鉴于该地点的地层位置和后体腔的形态,保存的材料代表了一个来自包含似鸟龙和似鸵龙的进化枝的分类群。对跖骨形态进行了检查,发现其变化太大,无法在分类学上区分这些物种。该遗址提供了似鸟龙类群居行为的额外证据,也是北美形态中首次可能记录到该行为的证据。