Theropod guild structure and the tyrannosaurid niche assimilation hypothesis: implications for predatory dinosaur macroecology and ontogeny in later Late Cretaceous Asiamerica.

Holtz, Thomas Richard Jr

Theropod guild structure and the tyrannosaurid niche assimilation hypothesis: implications for predatory dinosaur macroecology and ontogeny in later Late Cretaceous Asiamerica.

dc.contributor.author	Holtz, Thomas Richard Jr
dc.contributor.author	Holtz, Thomas Richard Jr
dc.date.accessioned	2022-04-08T20:03:03Z
dc.date.available	2022-04-08T20:03:03Z
dc.date.issued	2021-06-17
dc.description.abstract	Well-sampled dinosaur communities from the Jurassic through the early Late Cretaceous show greater taxonomic diversity among larger (>50 kg) theropod taxa than communities of the Campano-Maastrichtian, particularly to those of eastern/central Asia and Laramidia. The large carnivore guilds in Asiamerican assemblages are monopolized by tyrannosaurids, with adult medium-sized (50–500 kg) predators rare or absent. In contrast, various clades of theropods are found to occupy these body sizes in earlier faunas, including early tyrannosauroids. Assemblages with “missing middle-sized” predators are not found to have correspondingly sparser diversity of potential prey species recorded in these same faunas. The “missing middle-sized” niches in the theropod guilds of Late Cretaceous Laramidia and Asia may have been assimilated by juvenile and subadults of tyrannosaurid species, functionally distinct from their adult ecomorphologies. It is speculated that if tyrannosaurids assimilated the niches previously occupied by mid-sized theropod predators, we would expect the evolution of distinct transitions in morphology and possibly the delay of the achievement of somatic maturity in species of this taxon.	en_US
dc.description.uri	https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2020-0174
dc.identifier	https://doi.org/10.13016/gmgw-s3lz
dc.identifier.citation	Holtz, T.R., Jr. 2021. Theropod guild structure and the tyrannosaurid niche assimilation hypothesis: implications for predatory dinosaur macroecology and ontogeny in later Late Cretaceous Asiamerica. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 58: 778-795. doi: 10.1139/cjes-2020-0174	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1903/28566
dc.language.iso	en	en_US
dc.publisher	Canadian Science Publishing	en_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAt	College of Computer, Mathematical & Natural Sciences	en_us
dc.relation.isAvailableAt	Geology	en_us
dc.relation.isAvailableAt	Digital Repository at the University of Maryland	en_us
dc.relation.isAvailableAt	University of Maryland (College Park, MD)	en_us
dc.subject	dinosaurs ontogeny theropod paleoecology Mesozoic Tyrannosauridae	en_US
dc.title	Theropod guild structure and the tyrannosaurid niche assimilation hypothesis: implications for predatory dinosaur macroecology and ontogeny in later Late Cretaceous Asiamerica.	en_US
dc.type	Dataset	en_US