Baby hadrosaurid material associated with an unusually high abundance of Troodon teeth from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation, Upper Cretaceous, Alberta, Canada

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Vickaryous, M. K.
  • Lavigne, J. M.
  • Currie, P. J.
  • Gardner, J. D.
  • Ryan, M. J.

• A new microvertebrate site (≈72 Ma) in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation, south-central Alberta, is a deflational lag in interbedded silty shales. The site represents deposition on a waterlogged coastal plain ≈100 km to the west of the Bearpaw Sea. Approximately two-thirds (n=224) of the 388 elements recovered from this site belong to indeterminate hadrosaurids. Forty of these are from baby-sized individuals, suggesting that a nesting site of unknown size was located nearby. These fossils are notable for being the first occurrence of baby dinosaurs in the formation and the geologically youngest occurrence of baby dinosaurs in Canada. The next most common taxon (17% of elements) is the small theropod Troodon, represented by abundant teeth (n=65). Trooden teeth are normally rare in Upper Cretaceous sites in southern Alberta. The large number of Trooden teeth at the new site suggests a non-random association with the baby hadrosaurid elements, and is potentially indicative of predation. Elements of other dinosaurs are less common at the site, and include 45 teeth or tooth fragments from at least four other theropod taxa, and rare ankylosaurid and certopsid elements.

• Date created

  1998

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Hadrosaurids
  • Baby dinosaurs

• Type of Item

  Article (Published)

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R32B8VS51

• License

  © 1998 Oekom Verlag. This version...