New specimens of Nemegtomaia from the Baruungoyot and Nemegt Formations (Late Cretaceous) of Mongolia

Two new specimens of the oviraptorid theropod Nemegtomaia barsboldi from the Nemegt Basin of southern Mongolia are described. Specimen MPC-D 107/15 was collected from the upper beds of the Baruungoyot Formation (Campanian-Maastrichtian), and is a nest of eggs with the skeleton of the assumed parent...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2012-02, Vol.7 (2), p.e31330-e31330
Main Authors: Fanti, Federico, Currie, Philip J, Badamgarav, Demchig
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal feathers
Animals
Arid environments
Aridity
Biology
Colonies
Cretaceous
Cretaceous period
Deserts
Diagnostic systems
Dinosauria
Dinosaurs
Dinosaurs - anatomy & histology
Dinosaurs - classification
Earth Sciences
Eggs
Encyclopedias
Environment
Feet
Fossils
Legs
Maniraptora
Mongolia
Museums
Natural history
Nests
Oviraptoridae
Paleontology
Semi arid environments
Semiarid environments
Stratigraphy
Theropoda
Vertebra
Vertebrae
Zygote
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Summary:Two new specimens of the oviraptorid theropod Nemegtomaia barsboldi from the Nemegt Basin of southern Mongolia are described. Specimen MPC-D 107/15 was collected from the upper beds of the Baruungoyot Formation (Campanian-Maastrichtian), and is a nest of eggs with the skeleton of the assumed parent of Nemegtomaia on top in brooding position. Much of the skeleton was damaged by colonies of dermestid coleopterans prior to its complete burial. However, diagnostic characters are recovered from the parts preserved, including the skull, partial forelimbs (including the left hand), legs, and distal portions of both feet. Nemegtomaia represents the fourth known genus of oviraptorid for which individuals have been found on nests of eggs. The second new specimen, MPC-D 107/16, was collected a few kilometers to the east in basal deposits of the Nemegt Formation, and includes both hands and femora of a smaller Nemegtomaia individual. The two formations and their diverse fossil assemblages have been considered to represent sequential time periods and different environments, but data presented here indicate partial overlap across the Baruungoyot-Nemegt transition. All other known oviraptorids from Mongolia and China are known exclusively from xeric or semi-arid environments. However, this study documents that Nemegtomaia is found in both arid/aeolian (Baruungoyot Formation) and more humid/fluvial (Nemegt Formation) facies.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0031330