Department of Biological Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
Department of Geology, Rhodes University, Makhanda, South Africa.
Anat Rec (Hoboken). 2023 Jul;306(7):1762-1803. doi: 10.1002/ar.25038. Epub 2022 Jul 21.
We name and describe a new iguanodontian dinosaur from the Early Creteceous Kirkwood Formation, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. This dinosaur is one of only two ornithopod dinosaurs known from the Cretaceous of southern Africa, and is unique in being represented primarily by hatchling to young juvenile individuals as demonstrated by bone histological analysis. All of the juvenile material of this new taxon comes from a single, laterally-restricted bonebed and specimens were primarily recovered as partial to complete single elements, although rare articulated materials and one partial skeleton were found. Sedimentology of the bonebed suggests that this horizon heralds a change in environment upsection to a drier and more seasonal climate. This accumulation of bones is interpreted as seasonal mortality from a nesting site or nesting grounds and may be linked to this environmental shift.
我们命名并描述了一种来自南非东开普省早白垩世柯克伍德组的新禽龙类恐龙。这种恐龙是仅有的两种已知来自非洲南部白垩纪的鸟脚亚目恐龙之一，其独特之处在于主要由幼体到幼年个体代表，这一点通过骨骼组织学分析得到了证明。这个新分类群的所有幼年材料都来自一个单一的、侧向受限的骨床，标本主要是作为部分到完整的单个元素回收的，尽管也发现了一些罕见的关节材料和一个部分骨架。骨床的沉积学表明，这个地层标志着向上到更干燥和更具季节性气候的环境变化。这些骨骼的堆积被解释为来自筑巢地或巢区的季节性死亡，可能与这种环境变化有关。
