Psittacosaurus gastroliths

[Oliver Wings <wings@uni-bonn.de>]

Dan and others,

the amount of gastroliths within the rib cage of Psittacosaurus is
really astonishing. As far as I know, the only other animals with such a
high amount of stones in the gut (compared to the size of the animal, of
course) are the 
eosuchians Hovasaurus and Barasaurus (see: Currie, P.J. (1981):
Hovasaurus bolei, an aquatic eosuchian from the Upper Permian of
Madagascar.- Palaeontol. Africana, 24, pp. 99-163.).

I can not imagine a post mortem sedimentological process which can cause
such a precise deposit of the pebbles. If there would be just one
specimen with such a accumulation, I would probably believe in a special
sedimentological process. But there are more. 
Osborn (1924) mentioned two finds and, if I remember right, a few years
ago another stone bearing Psittacosaurus specimen (now in a private
collection, I guess) was mentioned in an email to the dinosaur mailing
list.

Does anybody have knowledge of more Psittacosaurus finds with
gastroliths?
And is it possible to examine these specimens? 
The specimen in the AMNH is on display and not available for research...

Cheers,
Oliver


---------------------------------------------
"MUTATIO SOLA PERPETUA EST!"

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Do you know something about gastroliths?
Please let me know!
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Oliver Wings (Dipl.-Geol.)
Institut fuer Palaeontologie
Nussallee 8
D-53115 Bonn
Germany
phone:   ++49 (0)228 734683
Fax:     ++49 (0)228 733509
E-mail:  wings@uni-bonn.de
Website: http://go.to/gastrolith



Dan Chure wrote:
> 
>      Oliver;
> 
>      Having looked at the Psittacosaurus material, I was surprised at the
>      sheer volume of gastroliths preserved within the rib cage. I would
>      venture a guess that there are proportionately more gastoliths by far
>      (if that's what they are) in the genoholotypic specimen of
>      Psittacosaurus than in any other dinosaur. In fact, it would appear
>      that there was little room for internal organs.  Unless, of course,
>      this is a post morten sedimentological accumulation.
> 
>      Dan Chure