30 November 2017

"Mother lode of pterosaur eggs"


As reported by the Washington Post:
... a site in China’s Turpan-Hami Basin in Xinjiang has coughed up 215 beautiful, pliable and miraculously three-dimensional eggs — 16 of which contain embryonic remains. The researchers also suspect there could be as many as 300 more eggs within the same sandstone block...

What’s more, the egg treasure trove also boasts skeletons from what appear to be hatchlings, juveniles and adults...  Pterosaurs ran the gamut from the gigantic, aircraftlike Quetzalcoatlus all the way down to animals about the size of a sparrow, such as Nemicolopterus. Some had the long, pointy snouts we typically associate with the flying reptiles. Others boasted wild and crazy crests...
Illustration by Zhao Chuang.  More about pterosaurs at Wikipedia.  And by the way...


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9 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 30, 2017 at 9:46 PM

    Not really directly related to this article, but I thought you might be interested in this article about scallop eyes: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/30/science/scallops-eyes.html

    I didn't see a way to get links to interesting content to you other than your personal email. Is there a better way than this?

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    1. MinnesotastanNovember 30, 2017 at 10:24 PM

      Quite an interesting article and probably blogworthy. Thanks for the heads-up.

      The email address in the "About Me" is for the use of readers. I have ten more emailboxes for other purposes, including my personal stuff. I guess I should modify the text in the About Me to reflect that.

      Delete
    2. MinnesotastanNovember 30, 2017 at 10:31 PM

      Revision completed. :-)

      Delete
  2. DrabkikkerDecember 1, 2017 at 3:16 AM

    "Pliable"? How??

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    1. MinnesotastanDecember 1, 2017 at 4:41 AM

      I wondered about that too, so in response to your query found this at phys.org -

      "Researchers also noted that the cracked exterior of the eggs resembled the fragile softness of lizard eggs. All are deformed to a certain extent, which indicate their pliable nature," said the study."

      So, not pliable NOW, but some fossils squished in shape, indicating an original flexibility like turtle eggs, not a rigidity like chicken eggs.


      https://phys.org/news/2017-11-hundreds-pterosaur-eggs-reveal-early.html#jCp

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    2. DrabkikkerDecember 2, 2017 at 5:47 AM

      Aah, yes, that makes sense. Thanks!

      Delete
  3. EmilyDecember 1, 2017 at 4:53 PM

    Additional fun fact: baby pterosaurs are known as "flaplings"!

    (Also, for some reason, I can't post comments with my google account...)

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    1. MinnesotastanDecember 1, 2017 at 6:18 PM

      All of my comments are posted using my Google account. If I'm not already signed in when I write them, it takes me away to get a signature and I have to write again - so I've learned to copy the comment and repaste when needed.

      Delete
  4. DrabkikkerDecember 2, 2017 at 4:38 PM

    I couldn't comment either yesterday (using the "Name/URL" option), and the same thing happened on another Blogspot blog I frequent, so it might be a glitch on their side.

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