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Palaeoenvironmental controls on the distribution of Cretaceous herbivorous dinosaurs

Naturwissenschaften volume 95, pages 1027–1032 (2008)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 06 August 2008

Abstract

Previous attempts to determine palaeoenvironmental preferences in dinosaurs have generally been qualitative assessments based upon data from restricted geographical areas. Here, we use a global database of Cretaceous herbivorous dinosaurs to identify significant associations between clades and broad palaeoenvironmental categories (‘terrestrial’, ‘coastal’, ‘marine’). Nodosaurid ankylosaurs and hadrosaurids show significant positive associations with marine sediments, while marginocephalians (Ceratopsia, Pachycephalosauria), saurischians (herbivorous theropods, Sauropoda) and ankylosaurid ankylosaurs are significantly positively associated with terrestrial sediments. These results provide quantitative support for the hypothesis that some clades (Nodosauridae, Hadrosauridae) were more abundant in coastal and/or fluvial environments, while others (e.g. Marginocephalia, Ankylosauridae) preferentially inhabited more distal environments.

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Acknowledgment

This research was funded by the award of a NERC Standard Grant (NE/C002865/1) to P.M.B, Paul Kenrick and Malcolm Penn (NHM). Thanks to Alistair McGowan for discussion and to Oliver Rauhut and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments which improved the final version.

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  1. Department of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK

    Richard J. Butler & Paul M. Barrett

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  1. Richard J. Butler
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  2. Paul M. Barrett
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Correspondence to Richard J. Butler.

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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00114-008-0429-1

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Butler, R.J., Barrett, P.M. Palaeoenvironmental controls on the distribution of Cretaceous herbivorous dinosaurs. Naturwissenschaften 95, 1027–1032 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-008-0417-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-008-0417-5

Keywords

  • Cretaceous
  • Dinosauria
  • Palaeoecology
  • Palaeoenvironments