Dendroolithus

Dendroolithus is an oogenus of Dendroolithid dinosaur egg found in the late Cenomanian Chichengshan Formation (Tiantai Group), in the Gong-An-Zhai and Santonian Majiacun Formations of China and the Maastrichtian Nemegt and Campanian Barun Goyot Formation of Mongolia.[1][2] They can be up to 162 mm long and 130 mm wide.[3] These eggs may have been laid by a Therizinosaur, Sauropod, or Ornithopod.[4] The oospecies "D." shangtangensis was originally classified as Dendroolithus, however, it has since been moved to its own distinct oogenus, Similifaveoloolithus.[5] This oogenus is related with embryos of the theropod Torvosaurus[6]

Dendroolithus Temporal range: Cenomanian-Maastrichtian ~99–66 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Dendroolithus
Egg fossil classification
Basic shell type:	†Dinosauroid-spherulitic
Oofamily:	†Dendroolithidae
Oogenus:	†Dendroolithus Zhao and Li, 1988
Type oospecies
†Dendroolithus wangdianensis
Oospecies
†Dendroolithus dendriticus †Dendroolithus fengguangcunensis †Dendroolithus guoqingsiensis †Dendroolithus microporosus †Dendroolithus verrucarius †Dendroolithus wangdianensis †Dendroolithus xichuanensis

References

1. Paleobiology Database
2. Carpenter, K. 1999. Eggs, Nests, and Baby Dinosaurs: A Look at Dinosaur Reproduction (Life of the Past). Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana.
3. Z. Zhao and Z. Li. 1988. A new structural type of the dinosaur eggs from Anlu County, Hubei Province. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 26(2):107-115
4. Konstantin E. Mikhailov, Emily S. Bray & Karl E. Hirsch (1996). "Parataxonomy of fossil egg remains (Veterovata): basic principles and applications". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 16 (4): 763–769. doi:10.1080/02724634.1996.10011364. JSTOR 4523773.
5. Wang Qiang, Zhao Zi-kui, Wang Xiao-lin, and Jiang Yan-gen. (2011) "New ootypes of dinosaur eggs from the Late Cretaceous in Tiantai Basin, Zhejiang Province, China." Vertebrata PalAsiatica 49(4):446-449.
6. Alves, L. C.; Schell, N.; Beckmann, F.; Mateus, Octávio; Martins, Rui M. S.; Castanhinha, Rui; Araújo, Ricardo (30 May 2013). "Filling the gaps of dinosaur eggshell phylogeny: Late Jurassic Theropod clutch with embryos from Portugal". Scientific Reports. 3: 1924. doi:10.1038/srep01924. PMC 3667465. PMID 23722524.