Dinosaur Eggs Associated with Crustacean Trace Fossils from the Upper Cretaceous of Jiangxi, China: Evidence for Foraging Behavior?

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.

Keywords: Theropod Fodinichnion Inchnofossil Hekou Formation Thalassinoides Elongatoolithus

Section

References

Codrea, V., Smith, T., Dica, P., Folie, A., Garcia, G., Godefroit, P., & Van Itterbeeck, J. (2002). Dinosaur egg nests, mammals and other vertebrates from a new Maastrichtian site of the Haţeg Basin (Romania). Comptes Rendus Palevol, 1(3), 173-180. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1631-0683(02)00021-0
Carmona, N. B., Buatois, L. A., & Mángano, M. G. (2004). The trace fossil record of burrowing decapod crustaceans: Evaluating evolutionary radiations and behavioural convergence. Fossils and Strata, 51, 141-153.
Carvalho, C. N. D., Viegas, P. A., & Cachão, M. (2007). Thalassinoides and its producer: populations of Mecochirus buried within their burrow systems, Boca do Chapim Formation (Lower Cretaceous), Portugal. Palaios, 22(1), 104–109. https://doi.org/10.2110/palo.2006.p06-011r
Cignoni, P., Callieri, M., Corsini, M., Dellepiane, M., Ganovelli, F., & Ranzuglia, G. (2008). MeshLab: An Open-Source Mesh Processing Tool (pp. 129-136). In Scarano, R., De Chiara, U. (Eds.), Eurographics, Italian Chapter Conference. Salerno: The Eurographics Association.
Chen, L.Q., Guo, F.S., & Liang, W. (2015). Sandstone detrital composition and tectonic attributes of provenance of the Upper Cretaceous Hekou Formation in western Gan-Hang tectonic belt. Journal of Central South University, 2, 571–578.
Dong, Z.M., & Currie, P.J. (1996). On the discovery of an oviraptorid skeleton on a nest of eggs at Bayan Mandahu, Inner Mongolia, People’s Republic of China. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 33(4), 631–636. https://doi.org/10.1139/e96-046
Department of Geology and Mineral Resources of Jiangxi Province. (1997). Stratigraphy (lithostratic) of Jiangxi Province, pp. 1–375.
Dal Sasso, C., Maganuco, S., & Cau, A. (2018). The oldest ceratosaurian (Dinosauria: Theropoda), from the Lower Jurassic of Italy, sheds light on the evolution of the three-fingered hand of birds. PeerJ, 6, e5976. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5976
Fang, X., Li, P., Zhang, Z., Zhang, X., Lin, Y., Guo, S., Cheng, Y., Li, Z., Zhang, X., & Cheng, Z. (2009). Cretaceous strata in Nanxiong Basin of Guangdong and the evolution from the dinosaur egg to the bird egg. Acta Geologica Sinica, 30(2), 167–186.
Falkingham, P. L., Bates, K. T., Avanzini, M., Bennett, M., Bordy, E. M., Breithaupt, B. H., ... & Fiorillo, A. R. (2018). A standard protocol for documenting modern and fossil ichnological data. Palaeontology, 61(4), 469-480. https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12373
Gu, X.R. (1991). The magnetic stratum of Late Cretaceous red beds in Jitai Basin, Jiangxi Province. Geological Science and Technology in Jiangxi, 18(4), 185–188. https://doi.org/10.11928/j.issn.1001-7410.2016.06.06
Hasiotis, S. T., & Mitchell, C. E. (1993). A comparison of crayfish burrow morphologies: Triassic and Holocene fossil, paleo‐and neo‐ichnological evidence, and the identification of their burrowing signatures. Ichnos: An International Journal of Plant & Animal, 2(4), 291-314. https://doi.org/10.1080/10420949309380104
He, F.L., Huang, X.J., & Li, X.Y. (2017). Occurrence and burial characteristics of dinosaur fossils in Ganzhou basin, Jiangxi province. Geology of East China, 38, 12–16.
He, Q., Jiang, Q., Xing, L., Zhang, S., Pang, W., Hu, H., ... & Yin, Q. (2019). Geochemical characteristics of newly discovered Elongatoolithidae eggs from the Upper Cretaceous of Jiangxi Province, southern China: Palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic inferences. Cretaceous Research, 99, 352-364. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2018.12.015
Koy, K. A., & Plotnick, R. E. (2010). Ichnofossil morphology as a response to resource distribution: insights from modern invertebrate foraging. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 292(1-2), 272-281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.03.054
Liang, W., Li, L.F., Wang, Z.J., Bai, M.H., Wang, X.Q., & Zhao, P.D. (2015). Ingredients and tectonic implications of sandstone detritus of Hekou Formation in the Fuzhou-Chongren Basin, Jiangxi. Science and Technology of West China, 14, 42–45.
Myrow, P.M. (1995). Thalassinoides and the enigma of early Paleozoic open–framework burrow systems. Palaios, 10, 58–74. https://doi.org/10.2307/3515007
Mikhailov, K.E., Bray, E.S., & Hirsch, K.F. (1996). Parataxonomy of fossil egg remains (Veterovata): basic principles and applications. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 16(4), 763–769. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1996.10011364
Monaco, P., & Garassino, A. (2001). Burrows and body fossil of decapod crustaceans in the Calcari Grigi, Lower Jurassic, Trento Platform (Italy). Geobios, 34(3), 291-301. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-6995(01)80077-2
Norell, M. A., Clark, J. M., Demberelyin, D., Rhinchen, B., Chiappe, L. M., Davidson, A. R., ... & Novacek, M. J. (1994). A theropod dinosaur embryo and the affinities of the Flaming Cliffs dinosaur eggs. Science, 266(5186), 779-782. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.266.5186.779
Norell, M.A. (1995). Origins of the Feathered Nest. Natural History, 104, 58–61.
Nickell, L.A., & Atkinson, R.J.A. (1995). Functional morphology of burrows and trophic modes of three thalassinidean shrimp species, and a new approach to the classification of thalassinidean burrow morphology. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 128, 181–197. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps128181
Norell, M.A., Balanoff, A.M., Barta, D.E., & Erickson, G.M. (2018). A second specimen of Citipati osmolskae associated with a nest of eggs from Ukhaa Tolgod, Omnogov Aimag, Mongolia. American Museum Novitates, 3899(3899), 1–44. https://doi.org/10.1206/3899.1
Pirrone, C. A., Buatois, L. A., & Bromley, R. G. (2014). Ichnotaxobases for bioerosion trace fossils in bones. Journal of Paleontology, 88(1), 195-203. https://doi.org/10.1666/11-058
Stieglitz, T., Ridd, P., & Müller, P. (2000). Passive irrigation and functional morphology of crustacean burrows in a tropical mangrove swamp. Hydrobiologia, 421(1), 69-76. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003925502665
Skutschas, P. P., Markova, V. D., Boitsova, E. A., Leshchinskiy, S. V., Ivantsov, S. V., Maschenko, E. N., & Averianov, A. O. (2019). The first dinosaur egg from the Lower Cretaceous of Western Siberia, Russia. Historical Biology, 31(7), 836-844. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2017.1396322
Wu, J.H., Zhou, W.X., & Zhang, B.T. (2002). Stratigraphical sequence and geochronology of the Late Mesozoic Era in Jiangxi Province and Northern Guangdong Province. Geological Review, 48, 44–53.
Wen, C., Liu, X., Lv, B., Mao, X., Chen, J., Hou, S., Zhou, Z., Hou, J., & Wu, H. (2019). The cretaceous redbeds in Shicheng Basin, Jiangxi province: pedogenic and paleoenvironmental characteristics. Quaternary Sciences, 36, 1403–1416.
Wang, Q., Li, Y. G., & Zhu, X. F. (2018). New ootype prismatoolithids from the Late Cretaceous, Laiyang Basin and its significance. Vertebrata PalAsiatica, 56(3), 264-272. https://doi.org/10.19615/j.cnki.1000-3118.180708
Xing, L., Roberts, E. M., Harris, J. D., Gingras, M. K., Ran, H., Zhang, J., ... & Dong, Z. (2013). Novel insect traces on a dinosaur skeleton from the Lower Jurassic Lufeng Formation of China. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 388, 58-68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.07.028
Xing, L., Parkinson, A. H., Ran, H., Pirrone, C. A., Roberts, E. M., Zhang, J., ... & Choiniere, J. (2016). The earliest fossil evidence of bone boring by terrestrial invertebrates, examples from China and South Africa. Historical Biology, 28(8), 1108-1117. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2015.1111884
Xing, L., Peng, G., Klein, H., Ye, Y., Jiang, S., Burns, M. E., & Ran, H. (2017). Middle Jurassic tetrapod burrows preserved in association with the large sauropod Omeisaurus jiaoi from the Sichuan Basin, China. Historical Biology, 29(7), 931-936. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2016.1263627
Young, C.C. (1954). Fossil reptilian eggs from Laiyang, Shantung, China. Scientia Sinica, 3(4), 505–522. https://doi.org/10.1360/ya1954-3-4-505
Ziebis, W., Forster, S., Huettel, M., & Jørgensen, B. B. (1996). Complex burrows of the mud shrimp Callianassa truncata and their geochemical impact in the sea bed. Nature, 382(6592), 619-622. https://doi.org/10.1038/382619a0
Zuo, Y.M., Wu, J.H., & Zhou, W.X. (1999). Lithostratigraphic division of volcanic terrain in Late Mesozoic in Jiangxi. Geological Review, 45(1), 742–750.

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Xing, L., Niu, K., Zhang, L., Yang, T.-R., Zhang, J., Persons IV, W. S., … Ran, H. (2020). Dinosaur Eggs Associated with Crustacean Trace Fossils from the Upper Cretaceous of Jiangxi, China: Evidence for Foraging Behavior?. Biosis: Biological Systems, 1(2), 54–59. https://doi.org/10.37819/biosis.001.002.0058

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.37819/biosis.001.002.0058

Published: 2020-06-03

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[1] Codrea, V., Smith, T., Dica, P., Folie, A., Garcia, G., Godefroit, P., & Van Itterbeeck, J. (2002). Dinosaur egg nests, mammals and other vertebrates from a new Maastrichtian site of the Haţeg Basin (Romania). Comptes Rendus Palevol, 1(3), 173-180. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1631-0683(02)00021-0

[2] Carmona, N. B., Buatois, L. A., & Mángano, M. G. (2004). The trace fossil record of burrowing decapod crustaceans: Evaluating evolutionary radiations and behavioural convergence. Fossils and Strata, 51, 141-153.

[3] Carvalho, C. N. D., Viegas, P. A., & Cachão, M. (2007). Thalassinoides and its producer: populations of Mecochirus buried within their burrow systems, Boca do Chapim Formation (Lower Cretaceous), Portugal. Palaios, 22(1), 104–109. https://doi.org/10.2110/palo.2006.p06-011r

[4] Cignoni, P., Callieri, M., Corsini, M., Dellepiane, M., Ganovelli, F., & Ranzuglia, G. (2008). MeshLab: An Open-Source Mesh Processing Tool (pp. 129-136). In Scarano, R., De Chiara, U. (Eds.), Eurographics, Italian Chapter Conference. Salerno: The Eurographics Association.

[5] Chen, L.Q., Guo, F.S., & Liang, W. (2015). Sandstone detrital composition and tectonic attributes of provenance of the Upper Cretaceous Hekou Formation in western Gan-Hang tectonic belt. Journal of Central South University, 2, 571–578.

[6] Dong, Z.M., & Currie, P.J. (1996). On the discovery of an oviraptorid skeleton on a nest of eggs at Bayan Mandahu, Inner Mongolia, People’s Republic of China. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 33(4), 631–636. https://doi.org/10.1139/e96-046

[7] Department of Geology and Mineral Resources of Jiangxi Province. (1997). Stratigraphy (lithostratic) of Jiangxi Province, pp. 1–375.

[8] Dal Sasso, C., Maganuco, S., & Cau, A. (2018). The oldest ceratosaurian (Dinosauria: Theropoda), from the Lower Jurassic of Italy, sheds light on the evolution of the three-fingered hand of birds. PeerJ, 6, e5976. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5976

[9] Fang, X., Li, P., Zhang, Z., Zhang, X., Lin, Y., Guo, S., Cheng, Y., Li, Z., Zhang, X., & Cheng, Z. (2009). Cretaceous strata in Nanxiong Basin of Guangdong and the evolution from the dinosaur egg to the bird egg. Acta Geologica Sinica, 30(2), 167–186.

[10] Falkingham, P. L., Bates, K. T., Avanzini, M., Bennett, M., Bordy, E. M., Breithaupt, B. H., ... & Fiorillo, A. R. (2018). A standard protocol for documenting modern and fossil ichnological data. Palaeontology, 61(4), 469-480. https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12373

[11] Gu, X.R. (1991). The magnetic stratum of Late Cretaceous red beds in Jitai Basin, Jiangxi Province. Geological Science and Technology in Jiangxi, 18(4), 185–188. https://doi.org/10.11928/j.issn.1001-7410.2016.06.06

[12] Hasiotis, S. T., & Mitchell, C. E. (1993). A comparison of crayfish burrow morphologies: Triassic and Holocene fossil, paleo‐and neo‐ichnological evidence, and the identification of their burrowing signatures. Ichnos: An International Journal of Plant & Animal, 2(4), 291-314. https://doi.org/10.1080/10420949309380104

[13] He, F.L., Huang, X.J., & Li, X.Y. (2017). Occurrence and burial characteristics of dinosaur fossils in Ganzhou basin, Jiangxi province. Geology of East China, 38, 12–16.

[14] He, Q., Jiang, Q., Xing, L., Zhang, S., Pang, W., Hu, H., ... & Yin, Q. (2019). Geochemical characteristics of newly discovered Elongatoolithidae eggs from the Upper Cretaceous of Jiangxi Province, southern China: Palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic inferences. Cretaceous Research, 99, 352-364. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2018.12.015

[15] Koy, K. A., & Plotnick, R. E. (2010). Ichnofossil morphology as a response to resource distribution: insights from modern invertebrate foraging. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 292(1-2), 272-281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.03.054

[16] Liang, W., Li, L.F., Wang, Z.J., Bai, M.H., Wang, X.Q., & Zhao, P.D. (2015). Ingredients and tectonic implications of sandstone detritus of Hekou Formation in the Fuzhou-Chongren Basin, Jiangxi. Science and Technology of West China, 14, 42–45.

[17] Myrow, P.M. (1995). Thalassinoides and the enigma of early Paleozoic open–framework burrow systems. Palaios, 10, 58–74. https://doi.org/10.2307/3515007

[18] Mikhailov, K.E., Bray, E.S., & Hirsch, K.F. (1996). Parataxonomy of fossil egg remains (Veterovata): basic principles and applications. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 16(4), 763–769. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1996.10011364

[19] Monaco, P., & Garassino, A. (2001). Burrows and body fossil of decapod crustaceans in the Calcari Grigi, Lower Jurassic, Trento Platform (Italy). Geobios, 34(3), 291-301. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-6995(01)80077-2

[20] Norell, M. A., Clark, J. M., Demberelyin, D., Rhinchen, B., Chiappe, L. M., Davidson, A. R., ... & Novacek, M. J. (1994). A theropod dinosaur embryo and the affinities of the Flaming Cliffs dinosaur eggs. Science, 266(5186), 779-782. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.266.5186.779

[21] Norell, M.A. (1995). Origins of the Feathered Nest. Natural History, 104, 58–61.

[22] Nickell, L.A., & Atkinson, R.J.A. (1995). Functional morphology of burrows and trophic modes of three thalassinidean shrimp species, and a new approach to the classification of thalassinidean burrow morphology. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 128, 181–197. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps128181

[23] Norell, M.A., Balanoff, A.M., Barta, D.E., & Erickson, G.M. (2018). A second specimen of Citipati osmolskae associated with a nest of eggs from Ukhaa Tolgod, Omnogov Aimag, Mongolia. American Museum Novitates, 3899(3899), 1–44. https://doi.org/10.1206/3899.1

[24] Pirrone, C. A., Buatois, L. A., & Bromley, R. G. (2014). Ichnotaxobases for bioerosion trace fossils in bones. Journal of Paleontology, 88(1), 195-203. https://doi.org/10.1666/11-058

[25] Stieglitz, T., Ridd, P., & Müller, P. (2000). Passive irrigation and functional morphology of crustacean burrows in a tropical mangrove swamp. Hydrobiologia, 421(1), 69-76. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003925502665

[26] Skutschas, P. P., Markova, V. D., Boitsova, E. A., Leshchinskiy, S. V., Ivantsov, S. V., Maschenko, E. N., & Averianov, A. O. (2019). The first dinosaur egg from the Lower Cretaceous of Western Siberia, Russia. Historical Biology, 31(7), 836-844. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2017.1396322

[27] Wu, J.H., Zhou, W.X., & Zhang, B.T. (2002). Stratigraphical sequence and geochronology of the Late Mesozoic Era in Jiangxi Province and Northern Guangdong Province. Geological Review, 48, 44–53.

[28] Wen, C., Liu, X., Lv, B., Mao, X., Chen, J., Hou, S., Zhou, Z., Hou, J., & Wu, H. (2019). The cretaceous redbeds in Shicheng Basin, Jiangxi province: pedogenic and paleoenvironmental characteristics. Quaternary Sciences, 36, 1403–1416.

[29] Wang, Q., Li, Y. G., & Zhu, X. F. (2018). New ootype prismatoolithids from the Late Cretaceous, Laiyang Basin and its significance. Vertebrata PalAsiatica, 56(3), 264-272. https://doi.org/10.19615/j.cnki.1000-3118.180708

[30] Xing, L., Roberts, E. M., Harris, J. D., Gingras, M. K., Ran, H., Zhang, J., ... & Dong, Z. (2013). Novel insect traces on a dinosaur skeleton from the Lower Jurassic Lufeng Formation of China. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 388, 58-68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.07.028

[31] Xing, L., Parkinson, A. H., Ran, H., Pirrone, C. A., Roberts, E. M., Zhang, J., ... & Choiniere, J. (2016). The earliest fossil evidence of bone boring by terrestrial invertebrates, examples from China and South Africa. Historical Biology, 28(8), 1108-1117. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2015.1111884

[32] Xing, L., Peng, G., Klein, H., Ye, Y., Jiang, S., Burns, M. E., & Ran, H. (2017). Middle Jurassic tetrapod burrows preserved in association with the large sauropod Omeisaurus jiaoi from the Sichuan Basin, China. Historical Biology, 29(7), 931-936. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2016.1263627

[33] Young, C.C. (1954). Fossil reptilian eggs from Laiyang, Shantung, China. Scientia Sinica, 3(4), 505–522. https://doi.org/10.1360/ya1954-3-4-505

[34] Ziebis, W., Forster, S., Huettel, M., & Jørgensen, B. B. (1996). Complex burrows of the mud shrimp Callianassa truncata and their geochemical impact in the sea bed. Nature, 382(6592), 619-622. https://doi.org/10.1038/382619a0

[35] Zuo, Y.M., Wu, J.H., & Zhou, W.X. (1999). Lithostratigraphic division of volcanic terrain in Late Mesozoic in Jiangxi. Geological Review, 45(1), 742–750.