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- Title
Re-evaluation of the eggshell structure of eggs containing dinosaur embryos from the Lower Jurassic of South Africa.
- Authors
Zelenitsky, Darla K.; Modesto, Sean P.
- Abstract
Some of the oldest known dinosaur eggs with embryos were reported from Lower Jurassic sediments of South Africa's Elliot Formation. The osteological data from the embryos suggest that the eggs were laid by dinosaurs, and the presence of skeletal materials of the sauropodomorph Massospondyius carinatus at the egg-producing locality prompted the tentative hypothesis of a prosauropod parentage for these eggs. Original analysis of egg-shell microstructure, however, suggested that they shared crocodilian characteristics. Re-evaluation of eggshell microstructure suggests that the 'crocodilian' characteristics of the eggshell are instead artefacts of diagenesis. The available data from the eggs and embryos suggest that the clutch is probably dinosaurian in origin, but no particular dinosaurian lineage can be identified as the egg-layer.
- Subjects
SOUTH Africa; DINOSAUR eggs; MASSOSPONDYLUS carinatus; ANTHROPOMETRY; FOSSIL reptiles
- Publication
South African Journal of Science, 2002, Vol 98, Issue 7/8, p407
- ISSN
0038-2353
- Publication type
Article