"Dragon and egg coexistence" wonder! A 190 million-year-old dinosaur egg nest was discovered →

Recently, paleontologists discovered a special dinosaur fossil group in Pingba District, Anshun, Guizhou Province, which is a group of dinosaur fossils with at least three adult dinosaurs and five nests of dinosaur embryos belonging to the same species. The dinosaur fossil group is about 190 million years old.

"Dragon" of "Dragon Egg Coexistence": Protecting the Qianlong

The dinosaur discovered this time is a type of bipedal sauropod dinosaur, a herbivorous dinosaur that lived in the early Jurassic period about 190 million years ago.

After analyzing the skull and post-cranial skeleton of the Pingba dinosaur, experts found that it was different from other sauropod dinosaurs and had unique characteristics and a combination of characteristics. Therefore, experts established a new genus and species - Guardian Qianlong. Associate Professor Han Fenglu of China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) explained that "Qian" means Guizhou and "Guardian" means that the dinosaur and the dinosaur eggs coexisted, expressing that it may have taken care of its offspring.

Experts estimate that the adult body of Guardian Qianlong could be more than 6 meters long and weigh up to 1 ton. It is also an important transitional stage in the evolution of early sauropods to sauropods.

The “egg” of “ Dragon and Egg ”: Leathery eggshell

The eggs of modern reptiles and birds have eggshells on the outermost side to protect them. They can be divided into three types: soft-shell eggs, hard-shell eggs, and leathery eggs. By analyzing the eggshell of the Guardian Qianlong, experts were surprised to find that its eggshell was a "leathery eggshell" between soft-shell eggs and hard-shell eggs. After quantitatively analyzing the evolution of reptile eggs, experts proposed that the earliest dinosaur eggs were leathery, which is different from the previous view of the origin of soft-shell eggs or hard-shell eggs.

The researchers also observed and evaluated the extent of bone development in the eggs and found that they were all at a similar stage of development, suggesting that they may have hatched at the same time, just like modern turtles. Synchronous hatching would have been beneficial for the individuals to escape predators.

By comparing the embryonic and adult skeletal characteristics of Shouhu Qianlong and calculating the ratio of the length of the forelimb and hindlimb bones, the researchers believe that Shouhu Qianlong may have walked on four legs when it was "young" and switched to walking on two legs after "adulthood".

Although the coexistence of dragon eggs is a relatively rare discovery, there have been similar cases in my country before. For example, in October 2021, the China Yunyang Dinosaur Egg Research Center stated that the discovery of dinosaur egg fossils in Qinglong Mountain, Yunyang, Shiyan, Hubei, was the first discovery of dinosaur bone fossils since its discovery in 1995, thus confirming the existence of the "coexistence of dragon eggs" phenomenon in Qinglong Mountain. However, the Qinglong Mountain fossil group belongs to the middle of the Late Cretaceous, which is later than the fossil group discovered in Pingba. Therefore, the discovery in Pingba this time is the earliest dinosaur egg nest discovered in China so far, and it is also the earliest "coexistence of dragon eggs" dinosaur fossil group discovered in the world so far.

Comprehensive sources: Science and Technology Daily, Hubei Daily, etc.