Parvoolithus

Parvoolithus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
Eggshell classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Avemetatarsalia
Clade: Ornithurae
Class: Aves
Oogenus: Parvoolithus

Parvoolithus is an oogenus of Mongolian fossil egg. They are known from a single small, smooth egg, which cannot be assigned to any known oofamily.[1] It is very similar to the eggs of modern birds in many aspects; in fact, a cladistic analysis by Zelenitsky and Therrien found it to be a sister taxon to the guinea fowl (genus Numida), indicating that they represent the eggs of birds, rather than a non-avialan theropod.[2]

References

  1. Mikhailov, K.E. (1997). Fossil and recent eggshell in amniotic vertebrates: Fine structure, comparative morphology and classification. Special Papers in Palaeontology 56. The Palaeontological Association. London. (page 58).
  2. Zelenitsky, D.K. and Therrien, F. (2008). Phylogenetic analysis of reproductive traits of maniraptoran theropods and its implications for egg parataxonomy. Palaeontology, 51(4): 807–816


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