A Lujiatun-like dinosaurian assemblage from the Jehol Biota of Ningcheng, Inner Mongolia, Northeast China

Abstract

The Lujiatun Unit of the Yixian Formation yields the only three-dimensionally preserved fossils from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota and crops out only in western Liaoning. Here, we report a new fossil site for the Jehol Biota with three-dimensionally preserved fossils from Ningcheng, Inner Mongolia. The fossils that have been discovered at this new site are predominantly dinosaurs and include a Sinovenator-like troodontid skeleton, three isolated sauropod teeth, some disarticulated skeletons of neornithischians and ceratopsians, and fragmentary lower jaws from a lizard and a mammal. The faunal composition, as well as the lithological features of the fossil beds, are comparable with those of the Lujiatun Unit of the Yixian Formation at Beipiao, western Liaoning, China. This discovery expands the geographical range of the Lujiatun-like dinosaurian assemblage of the Jehol Biota, and increases the biodiversity of the Jehol Biota in the Ningcheng Basin, China.