Full of crystals... Scientists discover two dinosaur eggs in China
Paleontologists in China discovered two eggs, belonging to a previously unknown type of dinosaur, filled with crystals (crystals) in the Qianshan Basin in the eastern Anhui Province of the country.
The two eggs have been classified as Shixingoolithus qianshanensis, making them among the newly described, previously unknown eggs.
According to the researchers, the two "near-spherical" eggs are about the size of a cannonball, measuring 105 to 137 mm long and 99 to 134 mm wide. One of the eggs was found partially broken and its inner surface "covered with a crystalline layer of calcite".
The study authors explained that calcite is a carbonate mineral commonly found inside the eggs of birds and dinosaurs. Calcite crystals form when calcium carbonate, which is also used to strengthen bones, teeth and nails, separates from the structure of the eggshell and accumulates on its inner surface as slowly growing crystals.
A previous study had indicated that a species close to dinosaurs lived on Earth during the last part of the Triassic period (251.9 million to 201.3 million years ago) to the late Cretaceous period (145 million to 66 million years ago).
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