Intestinal preservation in a birdlike dinosaur supports conservatism in digestive canal evolution among theropods

Intestinal preservation in a birdlike dinosaur supports conservatism in digestive canal evolution among theropods

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Abstract Dromaeosaurids were bird-like dinosaurs with a predatory ecology known to forage on fish, mammals and other dinosaurs.We describe Daurlong wangi gen.et sp.nov.

, a dromaeosaurid from the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Biota of Inner Mongolia, China.Exceptional farmhouse magnolia wreath preservation in this specimen includes a large bluish layer in the abdomen which represents one of the few occurrences of intestinal remnants among non-avian dinosaurs.Phylogenetically, Daurlong nests among a lineage of short-armed Jehol Biota species oliver peoples forman r closer to eudromaeosaurs than microraptorines.The topographic correspondence between the exceptionally preserved intestine in the more stem-ward Scipionyx and the remnants in the more birdlike Daurlong provides a phylogenetic framework for inferring intestine tract extent in other theropods lacking fossilized visceral tissues.

Gastrointestinal organization results conservative among faunivorous dinosaurs, with the evolution of a bird-like alimentary canal restricted to avialan theropods.