Herbivorous diet in an ornithomimid dinosaur (original) (raw)

Palaeobiology

Nature volume 402, pages 480–481 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

In 1997, twelve well-articulated skeletons of an ornithomimid dinosaur1 from the Upper Cretaceous Ulansuhai Formation2 in China were discovered. Each skeleton contained a preserved gastrolith mass inside the ribcage that was attached on the medial surface of the articulated dorsal ribs and gastralia. The occurrence and characteristics of gastrolith masses in this ornithomimid indicate that these non-avian toothless theropods may have had gizzards and been herbivores, like modern herbivorous birds that use grit to grind up plant matter.

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Figure 1: Gastroliths found in the ribcage of skeletons of ornithomimid theropod dinosaurs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, 75275, Texas, USA
    Yoshitsugu Kobayashi
  2. Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Academia Sinica, PO Box 643, Beijing, 100044, China
    Jun-Chang Lu, Zhi-Ming Dong & Yoichi Azuma
  3. Geological Institute, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaan Baatar, 11, Mongolia
    Rinchen Barsbold
  4. Fukui Prefectural Museum, 2-19-15 Omiya, Fukui, 910-0016, Japan
    Yoichi Azuma
  5. National Science Museum, 3-23-1 Hyakunincho, Shinjuku, Tokyo, 169-0073, Japan
    Yukimitsu Tomida

Authors

  1. Yoshitsugu Kobayashi
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  2. Jun-Chang Lu
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  3. Zhi-Ming Dong
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  4. Rinchen Barsbold
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  5. Yoichi Azuma
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  6. Yukimitsu Tomida
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Kobayashi, Y., Lu, JC., Dong, ZM. et al. Herbivorous diet in an ornithomimid dinosaur.Nature 402, 480–481 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/44999

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