First record of dinosaur eggshells (¿Sauropoda-Megaloolithidae) from Neuquén, Patagonia, Argentina

CALVO, J.O., ENGELLAND, S., HEREDIA, S.E., SALGADO, L.

GAIA

Gaia

Lugar: Lisboa, Portugal; Año: 1997 vol. 14 p. 23 - 32

Since the last century, the Neuquén Group has been known for its quantity and diversity of dinosaur tracks and fossils; however, no data on eggshells has been recorded. Here, we describe the first record of eggshells in this Group from a new locality. The outcrops containing eggshells and crushed eggs are located in Neuquén city and belong to Upper Cretaceous beds (Conicacian-Santonian). The eggshells are of dinosauroid-spherulitic basic type tubospherulitic morphotype and tubocanaliculate por system. The eggs were probably spherical, and their average estimated diameter is about 16 cm with a volume of 2100 cm3. The eggshell thickness varies between 1.7 and 2.1 mm. The eggshells are similar to those of France and India and can be assigned to the oofamily Megaloolithidae, oogenus Megaloolithus. We recognise differences to erect a new oospecies of Megaloolithus; M. patagonicus. Up to now no evidence of embryos has been found; therefore, we can safely correlate these to animal taxa, in spite of titanosaurid sauropod remains in the vicinty.