''Heishanoolithus'' is an
oogenus of
Elongatoolithid fossil egg
Egg fossils are the fossilized remains of eggs laid by ancient animals. As evidence of the physiological processes of an animal, egg fossils are considered a type of trace fossil. Under rare circumstances a fossil egg may preserve the remains of t ...
from the
Shahai Formation in
Liaoning
Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmost ...
. It is known only from seven eggshell fragments. It is most notable for having a very thin eggshell (1.2-1.3 mm thick), the dense covering of nodes on the eggshell surface, and for its relatively thin mammilary layer (making up only one eighth of the eggshell thickness).
[Zhao H. and Zhao Z. (1999)]
A New Form of Elongatoolithid Dinosaur Eggs from the Lower Cretaceous Shahai Formation of Heishan, Liaoning Province
" ''Vertebrata PalAsiatica'', 37(4): 278-284. While no remains of ''Heishanoolithus'' have been associated with skeletal remains, strong evidence links Elongatoolithid eggs to
Oviraptorosaurs.
[Simon, D. J. (2014).]
Giant Dinosaur (theropod) Eggs of the Oogenus Macroelongatoolithus (Elongatoolithidae) from Southeastern Idaho: Taxonomic, Paleobiogeographic, and Reproductive Implications.
(Doctoral dissertation, Montana State University, Bozeman).
References
Fossil parataxa described in 1999
Elongatoolithids
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