If you love dinosaurs, and you love taphonomy, fossil sites don't get much better than this!
Complete and articulated adult and juvenile Psittacosaurus sp. fossils have been found at Shestakovo (Chebula region) in Western Siberia. Although fossils of Psittacosaurus sibiricus have been found at Shestakovo locality before, this is the first time a bone-bed with whole skeletons has been uncovered.
Lopatin et al. (2015) have written a short paper on this new find, and included a rough diagram of how the fossils were preserved (find the paper here (paywalled)).
Complete and articulated adult and juvenile Psittacosaurus sp. fossils have been found at Shestakovo (Chebula region) in Western Siberia. Although fossils of Psittacosaurus sibiricus have been found at Shestakovo locality before, this is the first time a bone-bed with whole skeletons has been uncovered.
Lopatin et al. (2015) have written a short paper on this new find, and included a rough diagram of how the fossils were preserved (find the paper here (paywalled)).
Take a look at this! A top-down schematic map view of the Psittacosaurus bone-bed, with most of the individuals lying on their stomachs, dorsal side (backbone) facing up. From Lopatin et al. (2015).
The Psittacosaurus fossils look very well articulated from this diagram, however I wish the authors had included more photographs of the fossils themselves. If you're having trouble interpreting the map above, have a look at the images below of another species of Psittacosaurus, P. mongoliensis, in top-down (dorsal view), and a reconstruction of P. mongoliensis in right lateral view.
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Left: Photograph of a Psittacosaurus mongoliensis fossil in dorsal view (looking top-down) from the Senckenberg Museum. Skull is at the top of the image. Right: Line drawing of a different specimen of P. mongoliensis (type specimen 6254) in dorsal view. Skull is also at the top of the image. Drawing from Osborn (1923).
Reconstruction of P. mongoliensis. Artwork by Nobu Tamura (Own work, CC BY 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons.
The authors of the study suggest that these Psittacosaurus were buried during a catastrophic event, such as a flood, covering them in layers of mud and silt (Lopatin et al., 2015). And as they found both adult and juvenile fossils together, they also suggest the Psittacosaurus may have been travelling as a group before they met their untimely demise.
There's no indication that these Psittacosaurus have been preserved with any proto-feathers, such as those found on some specimens of P. mongoliensis. But the fossils are still being prepared, and as they were preserved in muds and silts, one can hope they will!
There's no indication that these Psittacosaurus have been preserved with any proto-feathers, such as those found on some specimens of P. mongoliensis. But the fossils are still being prepared, and as they were preserved in muds and silts, one can hope they will!
References
Lopatin, A.V., Mashchenko, E.N., Tarasenko, K.K., Podlesnov, A.V., Demidenko, N.V., Kuzmina, E.A. 2015. A unique burial site of Early Cretaceous vertebrates in Western Siberia (the Shestakovo 3 locality, Kemerovo Province, Russia). Doklady Biological Sciences, 462 (1): 148-151. dx.doi.org/10.1134/S0012496615030102.
Osborn, H.F. 1923. Two Lower Cretaceous dinosaurs of Mongolia. American Museum Novitates 95: 1-10.
Lopatin, A.V., Mashchenko, E.N., Tarasenko, K.K., Podlesnov, A.V., Demidenko, N.V., Kuzmina, E.A. 2015. A unique burial site of Early Cretaceous vertebrates in Western Siberia (the Shestakovo 3 locality, Kemerovo Province, Russia). Doklady Biological Sciences, 462 (1): 148-151. dx.doi.org/10.1134/S0012496615030102.
Osborn, H.F. 1923. Two Lower Cretaceous dinosaurs of Mongolia. American Museum Novitates 95: 1-10.
