title: A theropod dinosaur embryo and the affinities of the flaming cliffs dinosaur eggs.
abstract: 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.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Norell
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Demberelyin
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rhinchen
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Chiappe
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: McKenna
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Altangerel
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Novacek