Name: Citipati
(Funeral Pyre Lord).
Phonetic: Sih-tee-pah-tee.
Named By: Rinchen Barsbold, James M. Clark
& Mark Norell - 2001.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda, Oviraptoridae.
Species: C. osmolskae (type).
Type: Carnivore.
Size: Approximately up to 2.9 to 3 meters long.
Known locations: Mongolia - Djadochta Formation.
Time period: Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Several well preserved
specimens.
Although
many people are familiar with the dinosaur Oviraptor,
what they don't
realise is that its modern day reconstruction of this oviraptorid
is often based upon the
more abundant remains of Citipati. Named after
two beheaded monks who
appear in Tibetan buddhist folklore, Citipati is
also one of the
larger members of its group.
The
most remarkable remains show Citipati in can only
be described as a
nesting posture. It’s thought that the Citipati,
and possibly
other members of the oviraptoridae, relied upon their covering of
feathers to smother their eggs like an insulating blanket, using
their arms to increase the area of coverage. This is quite a
specialised method of brooding that not only reinforces the link
between birds and dinosaurs, but also sits well with the discovery
that Oviraptor itself displayed nesting behaviour
of its own.
Citipati
is connected to the troodontid
Byronosaurus
because embryos for both
dinosaurs have been found in the same nest site. It is uncertain who
belonged where or even if one dinosaur had raided the nest of another
to
provide food for its own young. The idea of nest parasitism has also
been put forward, with the Byronosaurus laying
its eggs in the nest
of a Citipati when it was unattended.
Further reading
- A theropod dinosaur embryo, and the affinities of the Flaming Cliffs
Dinosaur eggs. - Science 266: 779–782. - M. A. Norell, J. M. Clark, D.
Dashzeveg, T. Barsbold, L. M. Chiappe, A. R. Davidson, M. C. McKenna
& M. J. Novacek - 1994.
- A nesting dinosaur. - Nature 378:774-776. - M. A. Norell, J. M.
Clark, L. M. Chiappe & D. Dashzeveg - 1995.
- An oviraptorid skeleton from the Late Cretaceous of Ukhaa Tolgod,
Mongolia, preserved in an avianlike brooding position over an
oviraptorid nest. - American Museum Novitates, 3265: 36 pp. - J. M.
Clark, M. A. Norell & L. M. Chiappe - 1999.
Two new oviraptorids (Theropoda:Ovirapto- rosauria), upper Cretaceous
Djadokhta Formation, Ukhaa Tolgod, Mongolia. - Journal of Vertebrate
Paleontology 21(2):209-213. - J. M. Clark, M. A. Norell & R.
Barsbold - 2001.
- Cranial Anatomy of Citipati osmolskae (Theropoda, Oviraptorosauria),
and a Reinterpretation of the Holotype of Oviraptor philoceratops. -
American Museum Novitates (3364): 1–24. - J. M. Clark, M. A. Norell
& T. Rowe - 2002.
- A second specimen of Citipati osmolskae
associated with a nest of
eggs from Ukhaa Tolgod, Omnogov Aimag, Mongolia. - American Museum
Novitates (3899): 1–44. - M. A. Norell, A. M. Balanoff, D. E. Barta
& G. M. Erickson - 2018.