Complete pterosaur eggs discovered in China.

 

The eggs are three-dimensional and extremely well-preserved (Picture: Rex)

 According to the famous scientific journal Current Biology on June 6, 2014, the world's largest and most well-preserved three-dimensional fossil cluster of pterosaur and its eggs were found in Hami, western China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The discovery was based on the field research of researcher Wang Youlin and his team of Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, over the past 10 years. The specimens are named Hamipterus tianshanensis. "Hami" refers to the region where the specimens were found.The pterosaurs are thought to have perished in a large storm.

The discovery in the Xinjiang Uygur Region, western China, is the world’s largest and most well-preserved cluster of three-dimensional fossils ever found with a nest containing eggs.


 

Photo by HAP/Quirky China News/REX (3792156c) Artist's impression of Crested Pterosaurs

 
Pterosaurs were flying reptiles with wingspans ranging from 25 cm to 12 metres, and they lived together in large colonies.

The discovery represents a new genus and species known as Hamipterus tianshanensis.

Speaking to the journal Current Biology, field researcher Wang Youlin described the eggs as ‘three-dimensionally’ preserved.
 

Photo by HAP/Quirky China News/REX (3792156b) Artist's impression of Crested Pterosaur

The fossils were unearthed during a study conducted by a team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who have been excavating the fossil-rich region for the past 10 years.

Wang says that sediment samples in the area suggest the pterosaurs died in a large storm about 120million years ago.

Reposted from Metro

Baby Dinosaurs Discovered

Yunnan Province, China holds some very special eggs, containing the tiny bones of unborn sauropod dinosaurs. Within the Lufeng Formation, a relatively thin bed of red sediment contains these fossil eggs, mixed and buried amidst other fossils.

Robert Reisz from the University of Toronto and his fellow paleontologists working in the Yunnan province of China discovered a cluster of 200 tiny fossils bones left behind by ancient dinosaur embryos.  Upon further inspection it turned out to be the oldest remnants of dinosaur embryos ever discovered by human beings.

The scientists discovered the embryos in a layer of sedimentary rock. They date them to the early Jurassic Era, making them approximately 190 million years old. The fossils’ importance extends beyond their age, though. They are probably unhatched embryos of Lufengosaurus at different developmental stages, providing a unique opportunity to investigate the embryonic development of a prehistoric species.

The research team focused their analysis on the most prevalent and best-preserved bones: femurs, or thigh bones. These little leg bones ranged from 0.5 to 0.9 inches  in length, shorter than matchsticks. The bones were porous, filled with cavities that would have once allowed blood to flow to the growing tissue. The size of the cavities is determined by how fast the animal grows — which made researchers realize these embryos got big quickly.  The researchers also found an asymmetrical thickening in the femurs associated with muscle action on the bone. The finding suggests the baby dines were kicking and twitching inside their eggs.

Artist’s impression of embryonic Lufengosaurs. Credit: D. Mazierski (c) 2013

The fast growth rate makes sense, given that Lufengosaurus grew to gigantic size 20 feet (6 meters) in length.

Adult Lufengosaurus Credit: DK Images

Reposted from  Photo Editor

'World's largest dinosaur' discovered in Argentina

The largest creature to have ever walked the earth - a dinosaur measuring 130 feet and weighing 77 tonnes - has been discovered in Argentina, palaeontologists have said.

Its gigantic bones were found by a local farm worker in a desert in Patagonia, the southern Argentine region that has yielded many important dinosaur discoveries.

Based on the size of the thigh bones – taller than an average man – the dinosaur would have been 130 feet long and 65ft tall, scientists said.

Its calculated 77-tonne weight would have made it as heavy as 14 African elephants, beating the previous record holder, Argentinosaurus, by some seven tonnes.

 The palaeontologists say the find is thought to be a new species of titanosaur – a huge herbivore of the long-necked sauropod group that lived in the Late Cretaceous period.

The bones were initially discovered a year ago in the desert near La Flecha, about 135 miles west of the Patagonian town of Trelew, and were this week excavated by a team of palaeontologists from Argentina’s Museum of Palaeontology Egidio Feruglio, headed by Dr Jose Luis Carballido and Dr Diego Pol.

Scientists unearth unique, long-necked dinosaur in Argentina

They have retrieved some 150 bones said to come from seven individuals, all in “remarkable condition”.

“Given the size of these bones, which surpass any of the previously known giant animals, the new dinosaur is the largest animal known to have walked on Earth,” the researchers told BBC News.

“Its length, from its head to the tip of its tail, was 40 metres.

“Standing with its neck up, it was about 20 metres high – equal to a seven-storey building.”

The gargantuan dinosaur is said to have lived in the forests of Patagonia between 95 and 100 million years ago, based on the age of the rocks in which the bones were embedded.




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'Littlest giant' dinosaur found in Argentina

At 30 meters long, the newly discovered Leinkupal laticauda (shown here in Buenos Aires on Thursday, May 15) is not exactly small, but could also called the 'littlest giant.' Scientists in Argentina announced the discovery of the fossilized remains of this unique member of the famous long-necked, plant-munching dinosaurs known as sauropods, the largest land creatures in Earth's history. It lived about 140 million years ago.