The first dinosaur egg from the Lower Cretaceous of Western Siberia, Russia

The Lower Cretaceous Ilek Formation in Western Siberia (Russia) has yielded various vertebrate fossils, including skeletal remains of dinosaurs. Here we report on a fragmentary theropod egg from the vertebrate locality Shestakovo 3 of the Ilek Formation in Kemerovo Province. We assign the specimen t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Historical biology 2019-08, Vol.31 (7), p.836-844
Main Authors: Skutschas, Pavel P., Markova, Valentina D., Boitsova, Elizaveta A., Leshchinskiy, Sergey V., Ivantsov, Stepan V., Maschenko, Evgeny N., Averianov, Alexander O.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cretaceous
Dinosaurs
Early Cretaceous
Egg shells
Fossil eggs
Fossils
Ilek Formation
Phylogeny
Russia
Theropoda
Thickness ratio
Vertebrates
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Summary:The Lower Cretaceous Ilek Formation in Western Siberia (Russia) has yielded various vertebrate fossils, including skeletal remains of dinosaurs. Here we report on a fragmentary theropod egg from the vertebrate locality Shestakovo 3 of the Ilek Formation in Kemerovo Province. We assign the specimen to the oogenus Prismatoolithus (oofamily Prismatoolithidae) as Prismatoolithus ilekensis oosp. nov., on the basis of the following unique combination of characters: ovoid-shaped egg; thin eggshell 300-330 μm thick; angustiprismatic morphotype; eggshell with three different layers; gradual transition between mammillary layer and prismatic layer; abrupt contact between prismatic layer and external layer; mammillary layer to prismatic layer to external layer thickness ratio is 1:3:0.6; prismatic layer with ill-defined squamatic texture; angusticanaliculate pore system; and smooth outer surface. Like other Early Creataceous Prismatoolithus, the egg of Prismatoolithus ilekensis oosp. nov. was laid by a small bodied theropod dinosaur (troodontid or primitive bird) and this taxonomic attribution is supported by results of our phylogenetic analysis. Prismatoolithus ilekensis oosp. nov. is the first Early Cretaceous ootaxon from Russia. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:734EAD40-86C3-488B-A61E-B5FF7378BC0E
ISSN:0891-2963
1029-2381
DOI:10.1080/08912963.2017.1396322