Megaloolithidae is an

oofamily 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 ...

of fossil egg of the

Dinosauroid-spherulitic 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 ...

morphotype. They probably are the eggs of

sauropod Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their ...

Paleopathology

Multilayered shell

Megaloolithid eggs with multiple layers of eggshell have been preserved in the

fossil record A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

. Multilayered fossil eggs resemble those of modern forms in sometimes having incomplete extra layers and pore canals that don't properly align. The misalignment of the pore canals can prevent oxygen from getting to the embryo and cause it to suffocate. The term ''ovum in ovo'' has been used for multilayered dinosaur eggs although this is inaccurate use of the term. The greater abundance may indicate that these eggs were more prone to such pathologies, but are most likely due to a larger sample size of them. Megaloolithid eggs with a discretispherulitic

morphotype In biology, polymorphism is the occurrence of two or more clearly different morphs or forms, also referred to as alternative ''phenotypes'', in the population of a species. To be classified as such, morphs must occupy the same habitat at the s ...

account for the majority of dinosaur eggs preserved with this deformity.

Footnotes

References

* Kenneth Carpenter, (1999) ''Eggs, Nests, and Baby Dinosaurs: A Look at Dinosaur Reproduction (Life of the Past)'', Indiana University Press; . * {{Taxonbar, from=Q16985275 Dinosaur reproduction Egg fossils