Comments on: The Early Bird Crushes The Egg https://gregladen.com/blog/2018/03/23/early-bird-crushes-egg/ Tue, 27 Mar 2018 02:05:17 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.6 By: Tyvor Winn https://gregladen.com/blog/2018/03/23/early-bird-crushes-egg/#comment-577646 Tue, 27 Mar 2018 02:05:17 +0000 https://gregladen.com/blog/?p=29408#comment-577646 Oviraptorosaurs (ovi meaning egg and raptor meaning thief or predator) are birdlike theropod dinosaurs found in Mongolia named — erroneously as it turned out — because fossils of the first species found were sometimes found at nest sites supposedly of protoceratopsian dinosaurs. Later some undoubted oviraptor nests were found containing eggs complete with embryonic oviraptors inside. Nests were also found with an oviraptor sitting in what appears to be a brooding position in which the eggs could have been shaded from direct sun or protected from winds by feathered wings. If memory serves, there is no direct evidence for feathers in that species but it does have a sort of pygostyle* characteristic of the entire group and other species (of Caudipteryx) have been found with traces of downy body feathers and long feathers on the arms.

* A pygostyle is a structure consisting of a number of fused vertebrae at the end of the spinal column which in modern birds serves as the anchorage for a fan of tail feathers and the muscles that control them.

It would be interesting to know how the analysis described in the abstract would turn out when applied to oviraptorosaurs.

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