Unusual Theropod Eggshells from the Early Cretaceous Blesa Formation of the Iberian Range, Spain

• Published in: Acta palaeontologica Polonica Vol. 59; no. 4; pp. 843 - 854
• Main Authors: Moreno-Azanza, Miguel, Canudo, José I., Gasca, josé M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences 01-12-2014; Polska Akademia Nauk, Instytut Paleobiologii
• Subjects: Barremian; Blesa Formation; Cretaceous; dinosaur eggshells; Dinosauria; Eggshells; Geological research; Natural history; parataxonomy; Prismatoolithidae; Spain; Teruel Province; Theropoda; Zoological research; Spain
• ISSN: 0567-7920
• DOI: 10.4202/app.2012.0069

Trigonoolithus amoae oogen. et oosp. nov. is described on the basis of abundant eggshell fragments from the La Cantalera 1 site in the Early Cretaceous (early Barremian) Blesa Formation, Teruel Province, northern Spain. The surface ornamentation, the most diagnostic feature of the new oogenus, consists of closely spaced sub-triangular or rounded protuberances that have not previously been reported in any other ootaxon. The eggshells present three distinct layers, with a gradual transition between prismatic and mammillary layers, and a poorly developed external layer with progressive prismatic to external layer transition, a combination of characters that allows them to be assigned to Prismatoolithidae. Phylogenetic analyses based on oological characters place Trigonoolithus at the base of Prismatoolithidae.