Find Remains of Oviraptorid Dinosaur and Embryo-Bearing Egg Clutch

[shunyadragon]

Paleontologists Find Remains of Oviraptorid Dinosaur and Embryo-Bearing Egg Clutch

Source: http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/oviraptorid-dinosaur-embryo-bearing-egg-clutch-09434.html

Paleontologists in China have discovered what they say is the first non-avialan dinosaur fossil known to preserve an adult skeleton atop an egg clutch that contains embryonic remains.

An attentive oviraptorid theropod dinosaur broods its nest of blue-green eggs while its mate looks on in what is now Jiangxi Province of southern China some 70 million years ago. Image credit: Zhao Chuang.

“Dinosaurs preserved on their nests are rare, and so are fossil embryos,” said Dr. Shundong Bi, a paleontologist in the Centre for Vertebrate Evolutionary Biology at the Yunnan University’s Institute of Palaeontology and the Department of Biology at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

“This is the first time a non-avian dinosaur has been found, sitting on a nest of eggs that preserve embryos, in a single spectacular specimen.”

The 70-million-year-old fossil was recovered from the Upper Cretaceous Nanxiong Formation near the Ganzhou railway station of Ganzhou city, Jiangxi Province, China.

The specimen is a partial skeleton of a medium-sized oviraptorid theropod preserved atop an undisturbed clutch of at least 24 eggs, some of which are broken, exposing embryonic bones.

The eggs are 21.5 cm in length and 8.5 cm in width across their equatorial regions. The outer surface of all eggs exhibits ornamentation made up of fine, densely packed ridges approximately 2-3 mm in width.

Embryonic material is exposed in seven eggs, but ossified bones with identifiable morphologies are observed only in four eggs.

The late stage of development of the embryos and the close proximity of the adult to the eggs strongly suggests that the latter died in the act of incubating its nest, like its modern bird cousins, rather than laying its eggs or simply guarding its nest crocodile-style.

© Copyright Original Source

Source: http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology...tch-09434.html

[rogue06]

Paleontologists Find Remains of Oviraptorid Dinosaur and Embryo-Bearing Egg Clutch

Source: http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/oviraptorid-dinosaur-embryo-bearing-egg-clutch-09434.html

Paleontologists in China have discovered what they say is the first non-avialan dinosaur fossil known to preserve an adult skeleton atop an egg clutch that contains embryonic remains.

An attentive oviraptorid theropod dinosaur broods its nest of blue-green eggs while its mate looks on in what is now Jiangxi Province of southern China some 70 million years ago. Image credit: Zhao Chuang.

“Dinosaurs preserved on their nests are rare, and so are fossil embryos,” said Dr. Shundong Bi, a paleontologist in the Centre for Vertebrate Evolutionary Biology at the Yunnan University’s Institute of Palaeontology and the Department of Biology at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

“This is the first time a non-avian dinosaur has been found, sitting on a nest of eggs that preserve embryos, in a single spectacular specimen.”

The 70-million-year-old fossil was recovered from the Upper Cretaceous Nanxiong Formation near the Ganzhou railway station of Ganzhou city, Jiangxi Province, China.

The specimen is a partial skeleton of a medium-sized oviraptorid theropod preserved atop an undisturbed clutch of at least 24 eggs, some of which are broken, exposing embryonic bones.

The eggs are 21.5 cm in length and 8.5 cm in width across their equatorial regions. The outer surface of all eggs exhibits ornamentation made up of fine, densely packed ridges approximately 2-3 mm in width.

Embryonic material is exposed in seven eggs, but ossified bones with identifiable morphologies are observed only in four eggs.

The late stage of development of the embryos and the close proximity of the adult to the eggs strongly suggests that the latter died in the act of incubating its nest, like its modern bird cousins, rather than laying its eggs or simply guarding its nest crocodile-style.

© Copyright Original Source

Source: http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology...tch-09434.html

Over the years I have bought and sold dozens of dinosaur eggs (primarily from Chinese sources) and have crossed my fingers each time that one might contain a fossilized embryo^[1], but so far no such luck. Most recently, almost exactly a year ago, I purchased 20 eggs that came from near the Mongolian border for $200 each and have sold them for between $800 to $1000 each (netting a $14,200 profit)




1. I have a friend who has access to a CAT scan and we've run them through it but so far no such luck