The first 3d pterosaur eggs
Fossil finds in China over the past decades have revolutionised out understanding of flying dinosaurs and early birds, but an exceptional discovery of five intact eggs surrounded by dozens of their adult progenitors is providing a wonderful new glimpse into a little understood corner of deep time. The genus was previously unknown, and flitted through the early Cretaceous air during the reign of their dinosaur cousins some 120 million years ago. Up until these, only four confirmed (and badly crushed) pterosaur eggs had ever been found. Hamipterus tianshanensis turned up in the Turpan-Hami basin in Sinkiang, deep in the deserts of northwestern China, abutting the Tien Shan and Pamir ranges. It is one of the world's bleaker places, just south of the dreaded Taklamakan. The surface of the site has only been scraped in the 9 years since excavations started, and many more interesting specimens are expected to appear. The pterosaurs perished in a savage storm way back in deep time, and were rapidly buried in the resulting sediments. The state of preservation of the skeletons proves that they were not carried far after death.
The eggs were soft and bendable with two shells, one hard on the outside, with a membrane within, similar to the eggs of some living snakes. Their parents seem to have buried them on a sandy lake shore, possibly in order to keep them hydrated. The fact that over 40 adults (so far) were buried together in the same storm implies that they hung around in colonies like many modern birds do. The proximity of the gees indicates that they were living near their nesting site, possibly implying parental nurture. Differences in head crests implies that both sexes were present on that long ago stormy day. The adults varied in size from 25cm to 12 metres, pretty hefty in pterosaur terms.
Loz
Image credit: Maurilio Oliveira
http://www.livescience.com/46124-ancient-pterosaur-eggs-found.html http://phys.org/news/2014-06-3d-pterosaur-eggs-parents.html
