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An international team of paleontologists has identified from an almost complete skeleton found in China a massive oviraptorid dinosaur with a toothless beak and a distinct cassowary-like crest atop its head.
The living scene of Corythoraptor jacobsi. Image credit: Zhao Chuang.
Named Corythoraptor jacobsi, the new discovered dinosaur belongs to Oviraptoridae, a group of bird-like, herbivorous and omnivorous dinosaurs.
The ancient creature is thought to have lived approximately 72 million years ago (Late Cretaceous epoch).
Its fossilized skeleton, including a skull and a lower jaw, was found in the Nanxiong Formation beds near Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province.
The specimen was analyzed by Prof. Lü Junchang, a paleontologist with the Institute of Geology in Beijing, and his colleagues from China, Slovak Republic, South Korea, and Japan.
“The histological study revealed that the specimen was probably at least eight years old but still not a fully grown individual,” the paleontologists said.
According to the team, Corythoraptor jacobsi had a highly developed cassowary-like skull crest (casque) and a long neck, morphologically similar to those of modern flightless cassowary birds.
“The casque was likely covered by outer keratinous sheath. The shell-like outer layer of the casque is approximately 2-3 mm thick in the cassowary and 2 mm thick in Corythoraptor jacobsi,” the researchers said.
They hypothesize that the skull crest of Corythoraptor jacobsi was a ‘multifunction-structure utilized in display, communication and probably expression of the fitness during mating seasons.’
Corythoraptor jacobsi: (a) photograph; (b) outline drawings; (c) close up of the skull and lower jaw, showing the pneumatic cassowary-like crest; (d) skeletal reconstruction (missing parts are in grey). Abbreviations: aof – antorbital fenestra, cav – caudal vertebrae, cr – cervical ribs, cv – cervical vertebrae, dv – dorsal vertebrae, fe – femur, fi – fibula, h – humerus, il – ilium, is – ischium, l – lacrimal, lj – lower jaw, ltf – lower temporal fenestra, m – maxilla, n – nasal, nar – narial opening, o – orbit, oc – occipital condyle, p – parietal, pm – premaxilla, po – postorbital, ps – pes, psc – pneumatic skull crest, pu – pubis, q – quadrate, ra – radius, sk – skull, sq – squamosal, stf – super temporal fenestra, ti – tibia, ul – ulna. Scale bar?-?8?cm in (c) and 100?cm in (d). Image credit: Junchang et al, doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-05016-6.
“The cassowary-like crest in the skull is similar to the casque of cassowaries, which serves a sociosexual role and functions in visual and acoustic display. It is therefore reasonable to assume that the cassowary-like crest of Corythoraptor jacobsi was probably utilized in a similar way,” Prof. Junchang and co-authors explained.
“The sharp claw and long neck of Corythoraptor jacobsi may also indicate that its living behavior is perhaps similar to the modern flightless cassowary.”
“It seems more reasonable to assume that the cassowary-like crest of Corythoraptor jacobsi was more likely the multifunctional structure that conspicuously expressed fitness, and probably sex, of each individual of Corythoraptor jacobsi.”
“The discovery of Corythoraptor jacobsi provides unprecedented evidence that oviraptorid dinosaurs were morphologically and taxonomically far more diverse in the Ganzhou area of China than in any other known region of the world,” the paleontologists said.
The discovery of Corythoraptor jacobsi is reported in the journal Scientific Reports.
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Junchang Lü et al. 2017. High diversity of the Ganzhou Oviraptorid Fauna increased by a new “cassowary-like” crested species. Scientific Reports 7, article number: 6393; doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-05016-6
