On the morning of May 11, the Fujian Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau announced that after conducting detailed research on a batch of dinosaur egg fossil specimens, scientists discovered the most complete hadrosaur embryo recorded scientifically to date. This research also It was published in the international academic journal BMC Ecology and Evolution on the 10th.
Currently, this set of embryo specimens is stored in the branch of Fujian Provincial Science and Technology Museum, and the staff nicknamed it "Ying Beibei". The dinosaur egg in which Yingbeibei's embryo is located is an ellipsoid with a length and diameter of about 9 cm and a volume of about 660 ml. The embryonic part accounts for about 40% of the entire egg. The embryonic egg has a thin eggshell about 0.4 mm thick. The microstructure shows that it belongs to the family Ovidae. According to reports, it originated from the late Cretaceous strata in the area of southern Jiangxi, 66 to 72 million years ago.
Interior view of the exhibition hall of the Fujian Provincial Science and Technology Museum branch
According to Xing Lida, , associate professor at China University of Geosciences (Beijing), experts have inferred that the fossil embryo contained in the egg belongs to the duckbill based on the unique characteristics of the skull, spine and limb bones of the dinosaur embryo. Dragon type. Hadrosaurs were large herbivorous dinosaurs that lived at the end of the dinosaur era. They all had a highly recognizable, duck-like flat mouth. Hadrosaur embryos are not the first to be discovered globally, but these new hadrosaur embryos are the best preserved of their kind to date.
Since 1859, a large number of dinosaur egg fossils have been discovered in many Mesozoic strata around the world and in my country, especially in the late Cretaceous strata. Generally speaking, dinosaur egg fossils only retain the eggshell structure, and the egg white and yolk inside have long been lost, and instead the mineral solution penetrates to fill the cavity. Dinosaur egg fossils come in various shapes such as round, oval, oval, olive, etc., ranging in size from quail eggs to over 50 cm in size. Very few of these dinosaur eggs still contain embryonic fossils. These fossils It provides valuable information for studying the reproductive development, behavior, evolution and paleoecology of dinosaurs.
Beginning in 2015, under the organization of the Fujian Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau, the branch of the Fujian Science and Technology Museum sorted out and repaired the existing specimens in the museum, during which a batch of embryos and fossil specimens with preserved soft bodies were discovered. The museum then cooperated with China University of Geosciences to examine these specimens with the help of synchrotron radiation, MCT scanning and other technical means. After more than three years of research, the hadrosaurus embryo "Yingbeibei" published this time was discovered among them.
