A theropod dinosaur embryo and the affinities of the flaming cliffs dinosaur eggs.
An embryonic skeleton of a nonavian theropod dinosaur was found preserved in an egg from Upper Cretaceous rocks in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. Cranial features identify the embryo as a member of Oviraptoridae. Two embryo-sized skulls of dromaeosaurids, similar to that of Velociraptor, were also recovered in the nest. The eggshell microstructure is similar to that of ratite birds and is of a type common in the Djadokhta Formation at the Flaming Cliffs (Bayn Dzak). Discovery of a nest of such eggs at the Flaming Cliffs in 1923, beneath the Oviraptor philoceratops holotype, suggests that this dinosaur may have been a brooding adult.
Norell
M A
MA
Clark
J M
JM
Demberelyin
D
D
Rhinchen
B
B
Chiappe
L M
LM
Davidson
A R
AR
McKenna
M C
MC
Altangerel
P
P
Novacek
M J
MJ