The first pterosaur 3-D egg:Implications for Pterodaustro guinazui nesting strategies,an Albian filter feeder pterosaur from central Argentina  

作　　者：Gerald Grellet-Tinner Michael B.Thompson Lucas E.Fiorelli Eloísa Argaaraz Laura Codorniú E.Martín Hechenleitner 

机构地区：[1]Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja (CRILAR-CONICET),Entre Ríos y Mendoza s/n,Anillaco,5301 La Rioja,Argentina [2]Orcas Island Historical Museums,USA [3]School of Biological Sciences (A08),University of Sydney,NSW 2006,Australia [4]CONICET,Argentina [5]Centro de Investigaciones Paleobiológicas (CIPAL),Universidad Nacional de Córdoba,Av.Vélez Sarsfield 299,5000 Córdoba,Argentina [6]Departamento de Geología,Universidad Nacional de San Luis,San Luis,Argentina

出　　处：《Geoscience Frontiers》2014年第6期759-765,共7页地学前缘（英文版）

摘　　要：The increasing number of fossil pterosaur eggs sheds light on nesting environments and breeding be- haviors of these extinct flying reptiles. Here we report the first partial three-dimensional egg of the pterosaur, Pteroduustro guinazui, from central Argentina. The specimen was discovered from the same Albian deposits as the exceptional R guinazui embryo described in 2004. Microscopic characterizations indicate a pristine preservation of the 50 Bm thick calcium carbonate, which differs significantly from the soft shell of Chinese pterosaur eggs. Estimate of the eggshell conductance implies that the nest had a minimum moisture content of 75%. This moisture estimate, combined with geological and taphonomical data, suggests that P. guinazui may have adopted a nesting strategy similar to those of grebes and flamingos rather than being buried on land, as previously hypothesized. Moreover, our results demon- strate that the nesting paleoenvironment of this pterosaur species was closely linked to a mesohaline lacustrine ecosystem in a basin governed by regional tectonic subsidence, a setting characteristic for the feeding and reproduction of modern flamingos.The increasing number of fossil pterosaur eggs sheds light on nesting environments and breeding be- haviors of these extinct flying reptiles. Here we report the first partial three-dimensional egg of the pterosaur, Pteroduustro guinazui, from central Argentina. The specimen was discovered from the same Albian deposits as the exceptional R guinazui embryo described in 2004. Microscopic characterizations indicate a pristine preservation of the 50 Bm thick calcium carbonate, which differs significantly from the soft shell of Chinese pterosaur eggs. Estimate of the eggshell conductance implies that the nest had a minimum moisture content of 75%. This moisture estimate, combined with geological and taphonomical data, suggests that P. guinazui may have adopted a nesting strategy similar to those of grebes and flamingos rather than being buried on land, as previously hypothesized. Moreover, our results demon- strate that the nesting paleoenvironment of this pterosaur species was closely linked to a mesohaline lacustrine ecosystem in a basin governed by regional tectonic subsidence, a setting characteristic for the feeding and reproduction of modern flamingos.

关 键 词：Pterosaur fossil eggsPterosaur eggshellPterodaustro guinazuiGondwanaEggshell conductance 

分 类 号：Q915[天文地球—古生物学与地层学]