Noe-Heon Kim, Seung Choi, Seongyeong Kim & Yuong-Nam Lee (2019)
A new faveoloolithid oogenus from the Wido Volcanics (Upper Cretaceous), South Korea and a new insight into the oofamily Faveoloolithidae.
Cretaceous Research (advance online publication)
The Cretaceous oofamily Faveoloolithidae has a unique shell unit and pore canal system that clearly differs from most of the extant and fossil eggshells. Despite its distinctiveness, morphological (micro- and ultrastructural) and crystallographic features of the Faveoloolithidae are poorly known. Here we report a new faveoloolithid nesting ground from the Upper Cretaceous siltstones within the Daeri Andesite of the Wido Volcanics (ConiacianâSantonian), South Korea. Forty-one of the same kind of dinosaur eggs distributed in at least eight clutches occur in seven different stratigraphic horizons, suggesting a colonial nesting ground and paleontological site fidelity (reuse of a site over geological time scale). These eggs were assigned to a new ootaxon, Propagoolithus widoensis based on a unique shell unit morphology which is branching towards the external part of eggshell, unlike other faveoloolithid eggs. New morphological and crystallographic features of P. widoensis provide a new insight into the oofamily Faveoloolithidae: (1) superimposed shell units, which are widely used as diagnoses of the Faveoloolithidae and Dictyoolithidae, are in fact taphonomic artifacts and (2) round and crystallographically upright shell units partially connected byÂ