A new oviraptorosaur (Dinosauria: Oviraptorosauria) from the late cretaceous of southern China and its paleoecological implications

PLoS One. 2013 Nov 27;8(11):e80557. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0080557. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

A new oviraptorosaur Nankangia jiangxiensis gen. et sp. nov. is described on the basis of a partial postcranial skeleton with a partial lower jaw collected from the Upper Cretaceous Nanxiong Formation of Ganzhou, in Jiangxi Province of southern China. The new taxon is diagnosed by: (1) a mandibular symphysis that is not turned down; (2) neural spines of the cranial caudal vertebrae that are wider transversely than anteroposteriorly, forming a large posterior fossa with rugose central areas; (3) a femoral neck extending at an angle of about 90 to the shaft; and (4) a ratio of femur to tibia length of 0.95. Phylogenetic analysis recovers Nankangia as basal to the oviraptorid Yulong, but more derived than Caenagnathus, which also has a mandibular symphysis that is not turned down. The coexistence of Nankangia jiangxiensis, Ganzhousaurus nankangensis, Jiangxisaurus ganzhouensis, an unnamed oviraptorid from Nanxiong Basin and Banji long suggests that they occupied distinct ecological niches. Nankangia may have been more herbivorous than carnivorous.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Dinosaurs / anatomy & histology*
  • Dinosaurs / classification*
  • Fossils*

Grants and funding

J. Lü was supported by Natural Science Foundation of China grants (41272022). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.