Embryology of Early Jurassic dinosaur from China with evidence of preserved organic remains

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://ir.lib.ncu.edu.tw/handle/987654321/103364

Title:	Embryology of Early Jurassic dinosaur from China with evidence of preserved organic remains
Authors:	張榮森;Reisz, Robert R.;Huang, Timothy D.;Roberts, Eric M.;Peng, ShinRung;Sullivan, Corwin;Stein, Koen;LeBlanc, Aaron R. H.;Shieh, DarBin;Chang, RongSeng;Chiang, ChengCheng;Yang, Chuanwei;Zhong, Shiming
Contributors:	理學院光電科學與工程學系
Keywords:	631/181/414;Animals;Bones;China;Cretaceous;Developmental stages;Dinosaurs;Dinosaurs - anatomy & histology;Dinosaurs - embryology;Eggs;Embryology;Embryos;Epigenetics;Femur - anatomy & histology;Femur - embryology;Fossils;Fourier transforms;Genetic aspects;Hatching;Humanities and Social Sciences;Identification and classification;Incubation;Jurassic;letter;multidisciplinary;Paleontology;Science;Software;Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared;Synchrotrons;Vertebrae
Date:	2013-04-11
Issue Date:	2026-04-23 11:29:02 (UTC+8)
Publisher:	Nature Publishing Group;London: Nature Publishing Group UK
Abstract:	摘要： Analysis of an Early Jurassic dinosaur bone bed reveals the rapid early growth stages of sauropodomorph embryos as well as the earliest evidence of in situ organic remains from a terrestrial vertebrate. Jurassic embryology Fossil dinosaur embryos are extremely rare, and mainly restricted to the Late Cretaceous period. Hence the interest in a newly uncovered bone bed of Lower Jurassic sauropodomorph embryos from China, which at about 190–197 million years old is the oldest assemblage of such bones ever found. A three-year multinational programme of excavation and research has yielded a treasure trove of embryonic bones, and the oldest known evidence of organic remains. Study of bones preserved at various developmental stages indicates that these large dinosaurs had a short incubation time and flexed their muscles while still in the egg, preparing the growing skeleton for life in the outside world. Fossil dinosaur embryos are surprisingly rare, being almost entirely restricted to Upper Cretaceous strata that record the late stages of non-avian dinosaur evolution 1 , 2 . Notable exceptions are the oldest known embryos from the Early Jurassic South African sauropodomorph Massospondylus 3 , 4 and Late Jurassic embryos of a theropod from Portugal 5 . The fact that dinosaur embryos are rare and typically enclosed in eggshells limits their availability for tissue and cellular level investigations of development. Consequently, little is known about growth patterns in dinosaur embryos, even though post-hatching ontogeny has been studied in several taxa 6 . Here we report the discovery of an embryonic dinosaur bone bed from the Lower Jurassic of China, the oldest such occurrence in the fossil record. The embryos are similar in geological age to those of Massospondylus and are also assignable to a sauropodomorph dinosaur, probably Lufengosaurus 7 . The preservation of numerous disarticulated skeletal elements and eggshells in this monotaxic bone bed, representing different stages of incubation and therefore derived from different nests, provides opportunities for new investigations of dinosaur embryology in a clade noted for gigantism. For example, comparisons among embryonic femora of different sizes and developmental stages reveal a consistently rapid rate of growth throughout development, possibly indicating that short incubation times were characteristic of sauropodomorphs. In addition, asymmetric radial growth of the femoral shaft and rapid expansion of the fourth trochanter suggest that embryonic muscle activation played an important role in the pre-hatching ontogeny of these dinosaurs. This discovery also provides the oldest evidence of in situ preservation of complex organic remains in a terrestrial vertebrate. 其他題名： Nature 出版者： London: Nature Publishing Group UK 出版日期： 2013-04-11 出處： Nature (London), 2013-04, Vol.496 (7444), p.210-214 資源來源： Nature 版權： Springer Nature Limited 2013 版權： COPYRIGHT 2013 Nature Publishing Group 版權： Copyright Nature Publishing Group Apr 11, 2013 識別號： ISSN: 0028-0836 識別號： ISSN: 1476-4687 識別號： EISSN: 1476-4687 識別號： DOI: 10.1038/nature11978 識別號： PMID: 23579680 識別號： CODEN: NATUAS
Appears in Collections:	[Department of Optics and Photonics] journal & Dissertation

Files in This Item:

File	Description	Size	Format
index.html		0Kb	HTML	18	View/Open

社群 sharing

Loading...