Scientific Reports (Mar 2022)

First titanosaur dinosaur nesting site from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil

  • Lucas E. Fiorelli,
  • Agustín G. Martinelli,
  • João Ismael da Silva,
  • E. Martín Hechenleitner,
  • Marcus Vinícius Theodoro Soares,
  • Julian C. G. Silva Junior,
  • José Carlos da Silva,
  • Élbia Messias Roteli Borges,
  • Luiz Carlos Borges Ribeiro,
  • André Marconato,
  • Giorgio Basilici,
  • Thiago da Silva Marinho

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-09125-9
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 13

Abstract

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Abstract Titanosaurs were successful herbivorous dinosaurs widely distributed in all continents during the Cretaceous, with the major diversity in South America. The success of titanosaurs was probably due to several physiological and ecological factors, in addition to a series of morphological traits they achieved during their evolutionary history. However, the generalist nesting behaviour using different palaeoenvironments and strategies was key to accomplish that success. Titanosaur nesting sites have been found extensively around the world, with notable records in Spain, France, Romania, India, and, especially, Argentina. Here, we describe the first titanosaur nesting site from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil that represents the most boreal nesting site for South America. Several egg-clutches, partially preserved, isolated eggs and many eggshell fragments were discovered in an Inceptisol palaeosol profile of the mining Lafarge Quarry, at the Ponte Alta District (Uberaba Municipality, Minas Gerais State), corresponding to the Serra da Galga Formation (Bauru Group, Bauru Basin). Although classical mechanical preparation and CT scans have not revealed embryonic remains in ovo, the eggs and eggshell features match those eggs containing titanosaurian embryos found worldwide. The morphology of the egg-clutches and observations of the sedimentary characteristics bolster the hypothesis that these sauropods were burrow-nester dinosaurs, as was already suggested for the group based on other nesting sites. The egg-clutches distributed in two levels along the Lafarge outcrops, together with the geopalaeontological data collected, provide clear evidence for the first colonial nesting and breeding area of titanosaur dinosaurs in Brazil.