Troodontidae is a clade of small-bodied theropod dinosaurs. A new troodontid, Gobivenator mongoliensis gen. et sp. nov., is described based on the most complete skeleton of a Late Cretaceous member of this clade presently known, from the Campanian Djadokhta Formation in the central Gobi Desert. G. mongoliensis is different from other troodontids in possessing a pointed anterior end of the fused parietal and a fossa on the surangular in front of the posterior surangular foramen. The skull was superbly preserved in the specimen and provides detailed information of the entire configuration of the palate in Troodontidae. Overall morphology of the palate in Gobivenator resembles those of dromaeosaurids and Archaeopteryx, showing an apparent trend of elongation of the pterygoid process of the palatine and reduction of the pterygopalatine suture toward the basal Avialae. The palatal configuration suggests that the skull of Gobivenator would have been akinetic but had already acquired prerequisites for later evolution of cranial kinesis in birds, such as the loss of the epipterygoid and reduction in contact areas among bones.

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After observation of detailed structural evidence for the origin of birds from dinosaurs, and in light of evidence that dinosaur bone tissue resembles the histology in mammals, the histology of bone has become one of the focal points in discussions of the physiology of dinosaurs and Mesozoic birds. Most of this microstructural information has focused on features related to the vascular organization and the amount of remodelled bone around vascular canals. However, the finer structures have received less attention, although differences in such structures have been observed among modern vertebrates. Here we present evidence that canaliculi--the submicrometre-sized channels that interconnect bone cells and vascular canals--and the collagen fibre bundles in bone are differently organized among certain dinosaur lineages. Ornithomimid dinosaurs are more like birds than mammals in these features. In canalicular structure, and to some extent in fibre bundle arrangement, ornithischian dinosaurs are more like mammals. These differences in both canalicular and lamellar structure are probably linked to differences in the process and rate of bone formation.

A remarkable specimen of the small neoceratopsian dinosaur Protoceratops andrewsi (Late Cretaceous, Mongolia) reveals the first nest of this genus, complete with fifteen juveniles. The relatively large size of the individuals and their advanced state of development suggests the possibility that Protoceratops juveniles remained and grew in their nests during at least the early stages of postnatal development. The nest further implies that parental care and sociality are phylogenetically basal behaviors in Ceratopsia. Finally, it reaffirms the conclusion that Protoceratops lived (and died) in the sandy aeolian dune fields of the central Asian craton.