First record of live birth in Cretaceous ichthyosaurs: closing an 80 million year gap.

نویسندگان

  • Erin E Maxwell
  • Michael W Caldwell
چکیده

New fossils of embryonic ichthyosaurs are both the geologically youngest and the physically smallest known ichthyosaur embryos. The embryos are articulated, though only partially preserved, and are located within the body cavity of an adult, presumably the mother. The embryos and adult were found in association with several other individuals of differing size classes, all of which appear to be a new taxon of Cretaceous ichthyosaur. The material was collected from units of the Loon River Formation, Hay River, Northwest Territories, Canada. The implications of this new material to ichthyosaurian reproductive biology are discussed.

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عنوان ژورنال:
  • Proceedings. Biological sciences

دوره 270 Suppl 1  شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2003