Hatching fossil turtles. Credit: Artwork copyright Masato Mattori
Researchers from Canada and China have identified a Cretaceous turtle egg fossil that contained an embryo. The group published their paper in Proceedings of the Royal Society, where they describe the location of the egg and what they discovered about it during their investigation.
It is very rare to find eggs from dinosaurs or turtles of the Cretaceous period. Their fragile nature makes it difficult to sustain them even in ideal conditions. Even rarer is the chance of finding a fossilized embryo inside an egg. This is what the Chinese team discovered when they visited a farmer from China's Henan Province. Inadvertently, he had found what he described as several unusual-looking rocks. One of the rocks was a turtle egg, which the team dated back to the Cretaceous period (between 66 and 140 million years ago).
Researchers were able to determine that the egg belonged to a turtle belonging to the nanhsiungchelyidsa species that lives on land. Their size was all confirmed by prior research. The shell of the specimen that laid the egg was likely to have a diameter up to a meter. Researchers recreated the embryo using a 3D software program to learn more about its unique characteristics. They discovered flat ribs, which are typical of modern baby turtles. They form the shell's foundation as the turtle grows. Researchers believe that the ancient turtle was similar to modern turtles with one exception: a very thick eggshell.
An embryo in a Nanhsiungchelyid Turtle Egg. Credit: Yuzheng Ke
Eggshells from turtles or birds are usually very thin. Because the tiny creature inside must eventually break free. The baby in the egg was nearly two millimeters thick. It would have needed special skills to get into the world with its shell.
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More information: Yuzheng Ke et.al, Large and unusually thick-shelled egg of a turtle with embryonic remains from the Upper Cretaceous of China. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Biological Sciences (2021). Information from the Journal: Proceedings of the Royal Society B Yuzheng Ke and colleagues, Large and unusually thick-shelled Turtle Egg with embryonic remains of the Upper Cretaceous of China (2021). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.1239
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