Exceptional Early Jurassic fossils with leathery eggs shed light on dinosaur reproductive biology  

作　　者：Fenglu Han Yilun Yu Shukang Zhang Rong Zeng Xinjin Wang Huiyang Cai Tianzhuang Wu Yingfeng Wen Sifu Cai Chun Li Rui Wu Qi Zhao Xing Xu 

机构地区：[1]School of Earth Sciences,China University of Geosciences(Wuhan),Wuhan 430074,China [2]Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins,Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100044,China [3]University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 101408,China [4]Guizhou Provincial Museum,Guiyang 550081,China [5]Guizhou Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology,Guiyang 550001,China [6]Pingba Institute of Cultural Relics Administration,Anshun 550820,China [7]Centre for Vertebrate Evolutionary Biology,Yunnan University,Kunming 650091,China

出　　处：《National Science Review》2024年第6期139-151,共13页国家科学评论（英文版）

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation ofChina(42288201,42372036,41688103 and41972021).

摘　　要：Our understanding of pre-Cretaceous dinosaur reproduction is hindered by a scarcity of evidence withinfossil records. Here we report three adult skeletons and five clutches of embryo-containing eggs of a newsauropodomorph from the Lower Jurassic of southwestern China, displaying several significant reproductivefeatures that are either unknown or unlike other early-diverging sauropodomorphs, such as relativelylarge eggs with a relatively thick calcareous shell formed by prominent mammillary cones, synchronoushatching and a transitional prehatching posture between the crocodilians and living birds. Most significantly,these Early Jurassic fossils provide strong evidence for the earliest known leathery eggs. Our comprehensivequantitative analyses demonstrate that the first dinosaur eggs were probably leathery, elliptical and relativelysmall, but with relatively long eggshell units, and that along the line to living birds, the most significantchange in reptilian egg morphology occurred early in theropod evolution rather than near the origin of Aves.

关 键 词：DINOSAUR sauropodomorph JURASSIC EMBRYO egg evolution reproductive behavior 

分 类 号：Q915[天文地球—古生物学与地层学]