Name: Oospecies Megaloolithus
Age: Upper Cretaceous Campanian Stage
Size (25.4mm=1 inch): 102 mm by 52 mm
Location: Auca Mahuevo, Nequen Province, Argentina
Code: DE003
Price: $55.00 - sold
 Description:
This is a fine example of a dinosaur egg fragment of the Oospecies Megaloolithus.
Because dinosaur eggs are most often found independent of the animal that laid
them, they are typically given names associated with their eggshell structure.
A few notable exceptions are the Hadrosaur Maiasaura and the enigmatic dinosaur
Oviraptor.. The latter is a classic example of scientists jumping to conclusions.
During the Central Asiatic Expeditions led by Roy Champan Andrews in the 1920's,
the first dinosaur eggs were discovered. Due to the fact that the most prevalent
dinosaur in the region was Protoceratops, the scientists thought the eggs were
from this taxon. They found a small unusual dinosaur in association with a nest,
and assumed that this dinosaur was overcome in the act of  staeling
the eggs. They gave this dinosaur the name Oviraptor philoceratops (Ceratops-loving
egg thief). During the 1990's, several expeditions to Mongolia discovered more
examples of this association, and the scientists came to the conclusion that the
Oviraptor was BROODING the eggs - not a thief, but a devoted parent. An extensive
dinosaur nesting site was discovered during 1997 which has resulted in discovery
of dinosaur embryos, bones, and skin fragments attributed to the titanosaurid
sauropod dinosaurs. An excellent book entitled Walking On Eggs by Luis Chiappe
and Lowe Dingus documents this amazing find, and I recommend it to all. This crushed
partial egg comes from that region, and shows the rugose eggshell pattern which
allowed for gaseous exchange between the growing embryo and its environment. |
