Journal
JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY
Volume 28, Issue 4, Pages 1110-1119Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC
DOI: 10.1671/0272-4634-28.4.1110
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Funding
- Jurassic Foundation
- Department of Geosciences, University of Rhode Island
- Hayashibara Museum of Natural Sciences
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Eggs containing well-preserved skeletons were collected from Bugin-tsav, an Upper Cretaceous locality in the Nemegt Formation, Omnogov' Aimag, Mongolia. These embryos, found in a weathered nest of eggs, are oviraptorid theropods. Eggshell morphotype is Elongatoolithidae, typical of theropods, including basal birds. Bone histology indicates that all embryos were probably close to hatching, based on the degree of ossification and in comparison with ossification patterns in living birds. Maturity of ossification indicates that oviraptorids hatched at a precocial stage of development. Two of the embryos are relatively large, while the other is 25% smaller, suggesting that size disparity of hatchlings in oviraptorids may be a consequence of asynchrony in egg laying.
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