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Macroolithus
Oogenus of dinosaur egg / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Macroolithus is an oogenus (fossil-egg genus) of dinosaur egg belonging to the oofamily Elongatoolithidae. The type oospecies, M. rugustus, was originally described under the now-defunct oogenus name Oolithes. Three other oospecies are known: M. yaotunensis, M. mutabilis, and M. lashuyuanensis. They are relatively large, elongated eggs with a two-layered eggshell. Their nests consist of large, concentric rings of paired eggs. There is evidence of blue-green pigmentation in its shell, which may have helped camouflage the nests.
Macroolithus | |
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A pair of Macroolithus yaotunensis eggs | |
Egg fossil classification ![]() | |
Basic shell type: | Ornithoid |
Morphotype: | Ornithoid-ratite |
Oofamily: | †Elongatoolithidae |
Oogenus: | †Macroolithus Zhao, 1975 |
Type oospecies | |
†Oolithes rugustus Young, 1965 | |
Oospecies | |
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Macroolithus eggs have been found containing oviraptorid dinosaur embryos resembling Heyuannia. Multiple other associations between oviraptorid and elongatoolithids (including other eggs containing embryos, parents brooding on nests, and a pair of shelled Macroolithus-like eggs preserved within an oviraptorid's pelvis) confirm that the parent of Macroolithus was an oviraptorid.
It is found in Upper Cretaceous formations of central and eastern Asia; fossils have been found in Mongolia, Kazakhstan and China. In the Nanxiong formation in Southern China, Macroolithus fossils range up to and possibly over the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, which is traditionally assumed to mark the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs. Some paleontologists have interpreted the record of dinosaur eggs at this formation as supporting a gradual extinction event, rather than a sudden cataclysmic event. However, other paleontologists believe that these interpretations are merely based on artifacts of erosion and redeposition in the early Paleogene.