Today I had a lecture on phylogenetics, and part of the lecture talked about the eventual understanding of the homologous features shared by dinosaurs and modern birds, leading to the realisation of their close relationship that is still a confusing science today.
The homologous features include egg-laying and the building of nest structures as part of their parenting behaviour. This behaviour was best observed in a fossil of Oviraptor philoceratops.
The most notable fossil of this animal (see below) shows an adult dinosaur, 2 metres in length and just over a metre in height, sprawled over a nest full of eggs.
To begin with, the eggs were thought to belong to a small Ceratopsian called Protoceratops. The dinosaur lying on top of the nest, however, was not a Ceratopsian. Instead, it was a therapod. Initially puzzling palaeontologists, it was theorised that the animal was actually trying to steal the Protoceratops eggs. This led to the genus name of the strange of the dinosaur: ‘Oviraptor’, which literally translates to “egg thief”.
It was later discovered that these were not the eggs of a Protoceratops, when further, identical eggs were discovered, containing the tiny embryos of Oviraptor.
[photo credit: Ryan Somma]
The animal’s name, although now inaccurate, had stuck. The “egg thief” is actually one of the famous good mothers of the dinosaur superorder. It’s my mum’s favourite species, and one I learnt a lot about throughout my childhood. Shame it has such a shitty name, it deserves one that describes how good a parent it really was!
![harryallard:
Today I had a lecture on phylogenetics, and part of the lecture talked about the eventual understanding of the homologous features shared by dinosaurs and modern birds, leading to the realisation of their close relationship that is still a confusing science today.
The homologous features include egg-laying and the building of nest structures as part of their parenting behaviour. This behaviour was best observed in a fossil of Oviraptor philoceratops.
The most notable fossil of this animal (see below) shows an adult dinosaur, 2 metres in length and just over a metre in height, sprawled over a nest full of eggs.
To begin with, the eggs were thought to belong to a small Ceratopsian called Protoceratops. The dinosaur lying on top of the nest, however, was not a Ceratopsian. Instead, it was a therapod. Initially puzzling palaeontologists, it was theorised that the animal was actually trying to steal the Protoceratops eggs. This led to the genus name of the strange of the dinosaur: ‘Oviraptor’, which literally translates to “egg thief”.
It was later discovered that these were not the eggs of a Protoceratops, when further, identical eggs were discovered, containing the tiny embryos of Oviraptor.
[photo credit: Ryan Somma]
The animal’s name, although now inaccurate, had stuck. The “egg thief” is actually one of the famous good mothers of the dinosaur superorder. It’s my mum’s favourite species, and one I learnt a lot about throughout my childhood. Shame it has such a shitty name, it deserves one that describes how good a parent it really was!](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsoxvbi0Sr1r4qxzwo1_1280.jpg)
