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Dinosaur Egg Found in Madhya Pradesh May be the Missing Link Between Birds, Reptiles

Curated By: Buzz Staff

News18.com

Last Updated: June 26, 2022, 10:29 IST

The egg belongs to a titanosaurid dinosaur. (Representational photo: Canva)

The egg belongs to a titanosaurid dinosaur. (Representational photo: Canva)

The egg found at the Dinosaur Fossil National Park in Dhar district is unusual because one egg is nested inside another.

Researchers from Delhi University have found have found a fossilized dinosaur egg in Madhya Pradesh. The egg found at the Dinosaur Fossil National Park in Dhar district is unusual because one egg is nested inside another. This condition called ovum-in-ovo, found among birds, was never reported in reptiles, reported nature.com. Scientists are hopeful that this discovery will provide the missing link between birds and reptiles. The egg belongs to a titanosaurid dinosaur. “The discovery of ovum-in-ovo egg from a titanosaurid dinosaur nest suggests that their oviduct morphology was similar to that of birds opening up the possibility for sequential laying of eggs in this group of sauropod dinosaurs. This new find underscores that the ovum-in-ovo pathology is not unique to birds and sauropods share a reproductive behavior very similar to that of other archosaurs,” the study says.

“The in-situ pathological titanosaurid dinosaur egg was found in the sandy limestone/calcareous sandstone of the Upper Cretaceous Lameta Formation exposed in the lower Narmada valley. The Lameta Formation in the Narmada valley consists of arenaceous, argillaceous, and calcareous sediments deposited in continental palaeoenvironmental conditions in a semi-arid to arid palaeoclimatic setting,” added the study.

Last year, a team of international scientists has declared that they had discovered a perfectly preserved embryo, almost prepared to hatch, inside a fossilised egg. Dating back to more than 66 million years ago, this is being called the most complete specimen recorded by the scientific community, BBC reported. The discovery was made in Ganzhou, Southern China, and the specimen inside the embryo was nicknamed Yingliang beibei or ‘Baby Yingliang’. With a total length of 27 centimeters, curled inside the fossil egg which is 17 centimeters long, the toothless specimen offers a clear picture of how it would look like had it lived.

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first published:June 26, 2022, 10:29 IST
last updated:June 26, 2022, 10:29 IST