Discovery of a Titanosaur Egg Containing Another Egg Inside in India
Paleontologists in India have uncovered a fossilized titanosaur egg containing another egg within it, a rare condition known as ovum-in-ovo, or 'egg within an egg.'
This remarkable 'nesting doll' discovery strengthens the evolutionary link between dinosaurs and modern birds rather than reptiles.
Scientists in India have unearthed a fossilized titanosaur egg encapsulating a second egg inside it, a phenomenon termed ovum-in-ovo, meaning 'egg within an egg.' While similar embryonic abnormalities occasionally occur in modern chicken eggs, this is the first documented case of such pathology dating back 68 million years.
Ovum-in-ovo is one of two significant reproductive anomalies that shed light on the reproductive biology of birds and reptiles. In contemporary birds, this condition manifests as a second eggshell layer forming inside the egg, separated by a space filled with yolk. The second anomaly involves multiple eggshell layers closely stacked on a single egg, sometimes separated by an organic membrane but without a second yolk present.
Previously, scientists identified eggs with multiple eggshell layers in turtles, dinosaurs, crocodiles, lizards, several modern bird species, and an extinct enantiornithine bird. However, ovum-in-ovo was thought to be a pathology exclusive to archosaurs—birds and crocodilians.
This perspective shifted following the discovery of a fossil egg measuring 16.6 × 14.7 cm within a dinosaur nest in the Lameta geological formation in India. This specimen dates back to the Late Cretaceous period and features two distinct eggshell layers with fragments in between.
The arrangement of one egg inside another, separated by a significant gap between the two eggshell layers, closely resembles the ovum-in-ovo condition observed in modern birds. Based on this evidence, researchers concluded this is the first confirmed case of ovum-in-ovo in dinosaurs.
This finding supports the idea that the reproductive biology of titanosaurs and other sauropod dinosaurs shares greater similarities with crocodilians and birds than with non-archosaur reptiles.
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