Preserved indicators of diet are extremely rare in the fossil record even more so is unequivocal direct evidence for predator–prey relationships. Evolution © 2013 The Society for the Study of Evolution.Īdditional specimen of Microraptor provides unique evidence of dinosaurs preying on birds The feeding habits of Microraptor can now be understood better than that of any other carnivorous nonavian dinosaur, and Microraptor appears to have been an opportunistic and generalist feeder, able to exploit the most common prey in both the arboreal and aquatic microhabitats of the Early Cretaceous Jehol ecosystem. Several morphological adaptations of Microraptor are identified as consistent with a partially piscivorous diet, including dentition with reduced serrations and forward projecting teeth on the anterior of the dentary. The preserved gut contents are composed of teleost fish remains. The new specimen demonstrates that this was not strictly the case, and offers unique insights into the ecology of nonavian dinosaurs early in the evolution of flight. Previous reports of gut contents and considerations of functional morphology have indicated that Microraptor hunted in an arboreal environment. The largest specimen of the four-winged dromaeosaurid dinosaur Microraptor gui includes preserved gut contents. Xing, Lida Persons, W Scott Bell, Phil R Xu, Xing Zhang, Jianping Miyashita, Tetsuto Wang, Fengping Currie, Philip J Piscivory in the feathered dinosaur Microraptor.
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