Open AccessDinosaur Eggs Associated with Crustacean Trace Fossils from the Upper Cretaceous of Jiangxi, China: Evidence for Foraging Behavior?
Author(s) -
Lida Xing,
Kecheng Niu,
Lijun Zhang,
Tzu-Ruei Yang,
Jianping Zhang,
W. Scott Persons,
Anthony Romilio,
Yuhui Zhuang,
Ran Hao
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
biosis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2708-0072
pISSN - 2707-9783
DOI - 10.37819/biosis.001.002.0058
Subject(s) - crustacean , trace fossil , invertebrate , burrow , nest (protein structural motif) , foraging , biology , cretaceous , ecology , china , zoology , paleontology , geography , archaeology , biochemistry
We report the discovery of concentrated invertebrate inchnofossils in close association with a dinosaur nest from the Hekou Formation in Jiangxi Province, China. The seven dinosaurian eggs reported clearly belong to the Elongatoolithidae and burrow traces were most likely made by small crustaceans. This association prompts the question as to whether invertebrate activity had relations with the buried eggs. This may be just an occasional case or the eggs may have organically increased the content of organic matter in soil which attracted the crustaceans.