An Argentine-Swedish research team has reported a 70 million years old pocket of fossilized bones and unique eggs of an enigmatic birdlike dinosaur in Patagonia.
Photo Illustrator: Gabriel Lio
Published : Wednesday, 11 Apr 2012, 10:33 AM EDT
(EndPlay Staff Reports) – Talk about making a timely discovery: Just as leftover Easter candies and decorated eggs are being discounted at retailers, scientists on an Argentine-Swedish research team just completed the ultimate egg hunt.
According to a report Uppsala University in Sweden, the team recently discovered a 70-million-year old cache of fossilized eggs and bones from an “enigmatic birdlike dinosaur in Patagonia.”
The find is unique because it includes two well-preserved eggs near the “articulated bones” of an adult’s hind limb. Dr. Martin Kundrát, a dinosaur expert from the university, said this is the first time eggs have been found in such a close proximity to other fossils.
The bird-like dinosaur is thought to be one of the last survivors from the Mesozoic land mass Gondwana, which is near what is now South Africa. At 2.6 meters tall, the discovered dino is thought to be the largest member of the Alvarezsauridae family. Kundrát and his colleagues have suggested the eggs found with the dinosaur’s bones had not yet hit the nest: The might have still been in the female animal’s oviducts when it perished.
“They were close to being laid, but the female didn’t make it,” Kundrat told LiveScience .
The scientists’ full findings will be published in the June 2012 edition of the journal Cretaceous Research. A full-text version of the article is available online through Science Direct .
Source:http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpps/news/birdlike-dinosaur-eggs-discovered-dpgoha-20120411-fc_19070828
Photo source and credit: http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112511162/eggs-of-enigmatic-dinosaur-discovered/
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