80 Million-Year-Old Smallest Ever Dinosaur Eggs Believed to Be T-Rex Relative Found in China
Dinosaurs always give a feeling of something magnanimous and majestic, but a discovery has led to an opposite reaction. Researchers in China have unearthed half a dozen dinosaur eggs, each around the size of a grape, Live Science reported. This is the first time, nonavian dinosaur eggs, so small in size, have been located by experts. As per the paleontologists, the fossilized eggs are well-preserved and will help researchers to find more about the extinct species and the environment. Findings regarding the discovery have been published in Historical Biology.
Discovery of Tiny Dino Eggs
The eggs were recovered from a construction site near Ganzhou in 2021, Live Science reported. They were located during a field survey of the site. The findings have been named "Ganzhou mini eggs" and were haphazardly arranged beneath a lump of rock.
The way the eggs were found made it difficult for experts to determine whether they all belonged to the same nest. The rock that covered these eggs has been analyzed to be around 80 million years old, belonging to the Cretaceous period.
Size of the Dinosaur Eggs
The smallest egg in the bunch is 1.1 inches (2.9 centimeters) long, Live Science reported. Before the discovery in China, the record of the smallest nonavian dinosaur egg was held by one egg found in Japan. The Japanese egg was laid by the chicken-size dinosaur Himeoolithus murakamii around 110 million years ago and measured 1.8 inches (4.5 cm).
Researchers believe that the dinosaur that laid eggs in China is an unknown species of nonavian theropod dinosaur — a group of bipedal, largely predatory dinosaurs.
Relation Between the Size of a Dinosaur and its Eggs
Researchers responsible for the study do not think that the small eggs imply that the dinosaur who laid them was also tiny, Live Science reported. They disregarded the size relation between the egg in Japan and its mother and instead pointed out examples like ornithopods and titanosaurs.
Ornithopods despite being tiny, managed to lay eggs that were 5.4 inches (13.7 cm), and on the other hand titanosaurs who have been adjudged to be among the largest in their species, hatched from eggs that were just 5.9 inches (15 cm) long. The team believes that there is no association between the size of the eggs and species.
Condition of the Dinosaur Eggs
The fossil eggs have been preserved in better than expected condition, Live Science reported. Electron microscopy of the eggs revealed that the insides of the eggs are also in an optimal condition. Study co-author Fenglu Han, a paleontologist at China University of Geosciences in Wuhan hopes, that more analysis is conducted on these eggs so that further details are found regarding the reproductive biology of Late Cretaceous theropod dinosaurs.