Oviraptor
| Oviraptor | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Skeletal reconstruction of Oviraptor philoceratops |
||||||||||||
| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Upper Chalk (Upper Campanium ) | ||||||||||||
| 76.4 to 72 million years | ||||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Oviraptor | ||||||||||||
| Osborn , 1924 | ||||||||||||
| Art | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
Oviraptor is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous Central Asia, which iscountedto the Oviraptorosauria . The only species and type species , Oviraptor philoceratops , is known from a poorly preserved, partial skeleton with eggs that was found in Mongolia and isdatedto the late Campanium .
Another possible skeleton (also with eggs) was discovered in Inner Mongolia , China , in an area called Bayan Mandahu.
Within the Oviraptorosauria, Oviraptor is counted among the Oviraptorids , it is the type and namesake of both groups. Like other Oviraptorosaurs, Oviraptor was a small, bird-like theropod, characterized by very deep, toothless jaws and a crest of the skull.
The name Oviraptor (from Latin ōvum 'egg' and raptor 'robber') means something like "egg thief". Since the first skeleton was discovered on a fossil nest, it was assumed that the animal wanted to eat the eggs. Today the find is interpreted as a parent animal that incubated its own eggs when it died. It is believed that they brooded in colonies similar to seabirds, as multiple nests were found close together. The diet of the Oviraptorosauria is still unclear, but some researchers suspect that the beak may have been used to crack clams and snails.
Although Oviraptor is one of the popular dinosaurs, almost all representations are based on a well-preserved skeleton with a high crest, which is now ascribed to the related Citipati .
Find and features
Oviraptor philoceratops is known to have a single partial skeleton with a deformed, incomplete skull (catalog number AMNH 6517) and a nest with about 15 eggs (AMNH 6508). The find was made in 1923 by George Olsen in the famous Bajandsag fossil deposit (eng. "Flaming cliffs"), which geologically belongs to the Djadochta Formation and from which, among other things, the skeletons of Velociraptor and Protoceratops come. The expedition was one of four successful expeditions to the Gobi Desert that the American Museum of Natural History conducted in the early 1920s. Oviraptor was first described by Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1924 .
Oviraptor was one of the most avian-like of the non-avian dinosaurs. Its rib cage, in particular, shows various features typical of birds, such as appendages on each rib that stabilized the rib cage. A relative of Oviraptor , Nomingia , displays a pygostyle , a series of fused vertebrae that support the tail feathers in today's birds. Skin prints from more primitive Oviraptorosaurs such as Caudipteryx and Protarcheopteryx show extensive fletching of the body, feathered arms and long, fan-forming tail feathers. The pygostyle at Nomingia suggests that this species has long tail feathers, which suggests that this feature was widespread among oviraptorosaurs. In addition, the nesting position of the brooding Citipati skeleton suggests that feathered arms were used to cover the eggs. Due to the great anatomical similarity between these finds and the Oviraptor skeleton, it seems very likely that Oviraptor was also pinnate.
Oviraptor is traditionally depicted with a distinctive skull crest similar to that of today's cassowary . However, re-examination of various oviraptorids shows that this popular high-crested species likely belongs to the genus Citipati , a relative of Oviraptor . However, it is likely that Oviraptor also had a skull crest; its real size and shape is unknown because of the crushing of the only known skull.
Systematics
Originally Osborn classified Oviraptor because of the toothless beak within the ornithomimids . Osborn also discovered similarities with Chirostenotes , which is still considered a close relative of Oviraptor . In 1976 Rinchen Barsbold established a new family , the Oviraptoridae , which should contain Oviraptor as a type genus and related genera.
The original Oviraptor skeleton is poorly preserved, especially because of the crushed and deformed skull. In the 1970s and 1980s, new and more complete oviraptorid finds were assigned to this genus.
In 1976 Barsbold attributed six additional finds to the Oviraptor (including IGM 100/20 and 100/21), but these were later assigned to the new genus Conchoraptor . Perhaps the most famous find, IGN 100/42, is characterized by its size and its well-preserved, complete skull. This find was attributed to the genus Oviraptor by Barsbold in 1981 and represented Oviraptor in most representations as well as in scientific studies of Oviraptoriden. However, this find, with its strikingly large, cassowary-like skull crest, was re-examined. The researchers, who had also described the nesting oviraptorids, showed that the similarities to some other genera were greater than to Oviraptor . IGN 100/42 was excluded from the genus Oviraptor and provisionally classified within the genus Citipati .
Paleobiology
The first skeleton was found on a pile of fossil eggs, which were initially attributed to the Ceratopsier Protoceratops . From this it was concluded that Oviraptor ate eggs, as its name ( Latin for "egg thief") shows. The epithet philoceratops accordingly means "lover of the Ceratopsier".
In his first description from 1924, Osborn stated that the name Oviraptor was chosen because the skull was found only about 10 cm from the eggs. He suspected that the unusually shaped jaws and beak might have formed a tool for breaking the eggs. However, he noted that the name Oviraptor “could completely confuse us with regard to its feeding habits and hide its true character” (“may entirely mislead us as to its feeding habits and believes its character”).
Findings of breeding Oviraptorids like Citipati in the 1990s proved that Osborn was right in his critical view. These findings show that the Oviraptor skeleton found was a parent animal that had incubated its eggs. In 1977 Barsbold argued that the beak was very powerful, making it suitable for cracking the shells of mollusks, such as clams , found in the same geological formation as Oviraptor .
In popular culture
Because of its bizarre, bird-like appearance and reputation as an egg thief, Oviraptor is a common part of popular media about dinosaurs. However, almost all popular representations of Oviraptor are based on earlier reconstructions of the large-combed oviraptorid fossil now known as Citipati , rather than actual Oviraptor fossils.
A notable example of Oviraptor in fiction is James Gurney's book Dinotopia . Since he no longer sees Oviraptor as an egg thief, Gurney named the animal "Ovinutrix", which means "egg keeper". Oviraptor often appears in dinosaur films, as in Disney's Dinosaur , where he became an Iguanodon steals Zhudan. The character Ruby in the television series " In a Land Before Time" (The Land Before Time) is a young female Oviraptor who helps the young dinosaurs.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Dougal Dixon : The World Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Creatures. Lorenz, London 2007, ISBN 978-0-7548-1730-7 , p. 310.
- ↑ Zhi-Ming Dong, Philip J. Currie : On the discovery of an oviraptorid skeleton on a nest of eggs at Bayan Mandahu, Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China. In: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. Vol. 33, No. 4, 1996, ISSN 0008-4077 , pp. 631-636, doi : 10.1139 / e96-046 .
- ^ A b c d Henry Fairfield Osborn : Three new Theropoda, Protoceratops zone, Central Mongolia (= American Museum Novitates. Vol. 144, ISSN 0003-0082 ). American Museum of Natural History, New York NY 1924, digitized .
- ↑ John R. Lavas: Asian Dinosaur Hunters. In: James O. Farlow, Michael K. Brett-Surman (Eds.): The complete Dinosaur. Indiana University Press, Bloomington IL et al. 1997, ISBN 0-253-33349-0 , pp. 35-37.
- ^ Gregory S. Paul : Dinosaurs of the Air. The Evolution and Loss of Flight in Dinosaurs and Birds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD et al. 2002, ISBN 0-8018-6763-0 .
- ↑ a b James M. Clark , Mark A. Norell , Rinchen Barsbold : Two new oviraptorids (Theropoda: Oviraptorosauria), upper Cretaceous Djadokhta Formation, Ukhaa Tolgod, Mongolia. In: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Vol. 21, No. 2, 2001, ISSN 0272-4634 , pp. 209-213, doi : 10.1671 / 0272-4634 (2001) 021 [0209: TNOTOU] 2.0.CO; 2 .
- ↑ a b Ринченгийн О. Барсболд: Новом Поэднемеловом Семействе Мелких Теропод Oviraptoridae fam. nov Монголии. In: Доклады Академии наук СССР. Vol. 226, No. 3, 1976, ISSN 0002-3264 , pp. 685-688.
- ↑ Ринченгийн Барсболд: Хищные динозавры овирапторы. In: Эмилия И. Воробьева: Герпетологические исследования в Монгольской Народной Республике. Институт эволюционной морфологии и экологии животных Академии наук СССР, Москва 1986, pp. 210–223.
- ↑ Ринченгийн Барсболд : Беззубые хишные динозавры Монголии. In: Совместная советско-монгольская палеонтологическая экспедиция. Труды. Vol. 15, 1981, ZDB -ID 751007-x , pp. 28-39, (In English in the Polyglot Paleontologist: Rinchen Barsbold: Toothless carnivorous dinosaurs of Mongolia. Online (PDF; 735.01 kB) ).
- ↑ Halszka Osmólska , Philip J. Currie, Rinchen Barsbold: Oviraptorosauria. In: David B. Weishampel , Peter Dodson , Halszka Osmólska (eds.): The Dinosauria . 2nd edition. University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 2004, ISBN 0-520-24209-2 , pp. 165-183, here p. 182.