古生物学家在巴塔哥尼亚的化石蛋中发现胎儿泰坦巨龙

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图片来源:¿SCIENCE

几年前在巴塔哥尼亚发现的晚白垩世恐龙巢穴遗址已经提供了丰富的资讯,而研究人员从该遗址中又发掘出六枚化石蛋,其中完整地保存着胎儿泰坦巨龙。今天发表在《科学》杂志上的一份报告中描述了这些新发现的胚胎,它们的特征是保存完好的头骨,为了解这些巨兽的进化发展提供了深入的见解。

顾名思义,泰坦巨龙是巨大的生物,有些重达 90 吨。作为长颈、草食性蜥脚类动物群的成员,这些庞然大物已在世界许多地方被发现。然而,泰坦巨龙的头骨却极其罕见。洛杉矶县自然历史博物馆的路易斯·M·基亚佩 (Luis M. Chiappe) 及其同事描述的近乎完整的胚胎头骨,因此在很大程度上填补了这一空白。(右图展示了其中一个头骨。图中,吻部指向照片的左下角,而眼窝位于其中心。)


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作者报告说,这些头骨“为了解蜥脚类恐龙一些最显著的颅骨特征的进化提供了线索”。与一些研究人员提出的观点相反,例如,蜥脚类动物鼻孔的特征性后缩似乎与脑壳的前向旋转是分别进化的。然而,它们的脸颊和眼睛区域的某些关键特征可能是一致进化的。“研究小组指出,“新发现的胚胎蜥脚类恐龙头骨为发育数据如何帮助我们理解进化事件提供了另一个例证。”

Kate Wong is an award-winning science writer and senior editor at 大众科学 focused on evolution, ecology, anthropology, archaeology, paleontology and animal behavior. She is fascinated by human origins, which she has covered for more than 25 years. Recently she has become obsessed with birds. Her reporting has taken her to caves in France and Croatia that Neandertals once called home, to the shores of Kenya's Lake Turkana in search of the oldest stone tools in the world, to Madagascar on an expedition to unearth ancient mammals and dinosaurs, to the icy waters of Antarctica, where humpback whales feast on krill, and on a "Big Day" race around the state of Connecticut to find as many bird species as possible in 24 hours. Kate is co-author, with Donald Johanson, of Lucy's Legacy: The Quest for Human Origins. She holds a bachelor of science degree in biological anthropology and zoology from the University of Michigan. Follow Wong on X (formerly Twitter) @katewong

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