Dinosaur Eggs Associated with Crustacean Trace Fossils from the Upper Cretaceous of Jiangxi, China: Evidence for Foraging Behavior?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37819/biosis.001.002.0058Keywords:
Theropod, Fodinichnion, Inchnofossil, Hekou Formation, Thalassinoides, ElongatoolithusAbstract
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.
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