Tubercuoolithus

''Tubercuoolithus'' is an oogenus of dinosaur egg from the early Campanian of Montana.

Distribution

''Tubercuoolithus'' is so far known only from the Two Medicine Formation in Montana, which is dated to the Campanian. The fossils were found in Teton County, at a locality dated to 80 million years old.

Discovery

Fossil eggs are very common at the Two Medicine Formation, including the eggs of '' Troodon'' and ''Maiasaura''. However, until 2010 no eggs were known from the lower half of that formation. Then, two paleontologists at the University of Montana, Frankie D. Jackson and David J. Varricchio, discovered a fossil egg site at Sevenmile Hill near the base of the formation. These discoveries included ''Tubercuoolithus'', and constituted the oldest fossil eggs known from the Two Medicine.

Description

''Tubercuoolithus'' is similar to the Mongolian elongatoolithids in that its eggshell is composed of calcite and has two layers, a mammillary layer and a cryptoprismatic layer. However, it has quite distinctive ornamentation; the outer surface of ''Tubercuoolithuss eggshell is covered with domed nodes, arranged in long wavelike patterns (anastomotuberculate)Carpenter, Kenneth (1999). Eggs, Nests, and Baby Dinosaurs: A Look at Dinosaur Reproduction (Life of the Past), Indiana University Press; . p. 144 or irregular chains (ramotuberculate). The eggshell thickness (including ornamentation) ranges between 831 µm and 1186 µm. The cryptoprismatic layer is roughly three times thicker than the mammillary layer. The pores are thin and straight.

Because it is known only from fragments, the size and shape of a complete ''Tubercuoolithus'' egg are unknown.

Classification

It is uncertain which oofamily ''Tubercuoolithus'' should be classified in. It is similar in microstructure to Elongatoolithidae, but different in ornamentation. Its ornamentation is similar to that of '' Montanoolithus''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q24913678

Egg fossils
Dinosaur reproduction
Fossil parataxa described in 2010