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New ornithomimid?
The following abstract is for an article in tomorrow's NATURE. Anybody know
if this is a new taxon? Chinese ornithomimids are still pretty few and far
between...
Palaeobiology: Herbivorous diet in an ornithomimid dinosaur
YOSHITSUGU KOBAYASHI, JUN-CHANG LU, ZHI-MING DONG, RINCHEN BARSBOLD,
YOICHI AZUMA & YUKIMITSU TOMIDA
In 1997, twelve well-articulated skeletons of an ornithomimid dinosaur
from the Upper Cretaceous Ulansuhai Formation in China were discovered.
Each skeleton contained a preserved gastrolith mass inside the ribcage
that was attached on the medial surface of the articulated dorsal ribs
and gastralia. The occurrence and characteristics of gastrolith masses
in this ornithomimid indicate that these non-avian toothless theropods
may have had gizzards and been herbivores, like modern herbivorous birds
that use grit to grind up plant matter.