Nanxiong City, located in
Guangdong Province of China's south area, is one of the regions buried with the
most abundant dinosaur fossils and dinosaur eggs in China. It is evaluated by
some geologists that, the succession of strata in the basin just pass through
the margin between Mesozoic and Cenozoic, becoming the optimal place for
research of the three extinction events happened during cretaceous (tertiary)
period.
Nanshiungosaurus brevisinus
Dong
Nanshiungosaurus brevisinus
Dong found in the place is well known for
their specially structured waist. They have a long and flat skull, a large and
edged snout and sharp teeth. It is estimated that they lived by lakes or rivers
before their death, feeding on fish.
Microhadrosaurus nanshiungensis Dong
This is a kind of hadrosaur with smaller body conformation. It is
estimated based on fossil specimen that, it is the smallest species in Chinese
Dinosaurian, with a body length of
not more than 3 meters.
More than 200 eggs of
Microhadrosaurus nanshiungensis
Dong have been dug out over the years in Nanxiong. The shape of these
dinosaur eggs can be divided into two groups, i.e., circular and oblong. The
individual size is different from each other. There are 2 or 3 eggs, to 10 or
even more than 30 eggs in each nest. Analyzing on samples of these dinosaur eggs
shows that, their eggshells were getting thinner and more fragile as a result of
shortage of microelement, which is significant for the study of the dinosaurs'
extinction reason.
The discovery of the
oryctocoenose of ancient extinct lives in Nanxiong fills up the gap in
scientific research of terrain stratum in Paleocene epoch in China and shows
that China is the nation possessing the most integral stratigraphic sections of
Paleocene epoch in the world at present.