Re: Wasps in rotting dino eggs

[Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au>]

On Tue, Aug 9th, 2011 at 6:53 AM, "Richard W. Travsky" <rtravsky@uwyo.edu> 
wrote:

> 
> http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/07/110719-wasps-eggs-dinosaurs-titanosaurs-
ancient-animals-science/
> 
> Wasps may have once roosted within rotting dinosaur eggs, an idea 
> suggested by the discovery of exceptionally well-preserved fossils of 
> insect cocoons.
> 
> Scientists were recently investigating several roughly 70-million-year-old 
> titanosaur eggs found in the Patagonia region of Argentina.
> ...
> Within one of the broken fossil eggs from Argentina, researchers found 
> eight tiny, sausage-shaped structures about an inch (two to three 
> centimeters) long and nearly a half-inch (just over a centimeter) wide.
> 
> The strange structures appear to be fossilized insect cocoons that are 
> similar in size and shape to cocoons belonging to a number of modern wasp 
> species.

The paper can be downloaded for free:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-4983.2011.01064.x/abstract

I don't think  'roost' is quite the right word for what wasps were doing in the 
eggs (although it's 
only used in the National Geographic piece).

-- 
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Dann Pigdon
Spatial Data Analyst               Australian Dinosaurs
Melbourne, Australia               http://home.alphalink.com.au/~dannj
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