Thanks fieldmarshaldj.
Posted on 03/20/2019 1:32:52 PM PDT by ETL
The find, made in 110-million-year-old deposits in northwest China, is of a new species known as Avimaia schweitzerae and the fossil has been described as "incredibly well preserved."
The new species belongs to the group known as Enantiornithes, which were fairly common in the Cretaceous period, living alongside dinosaurs.
However, the fossilized egg may have resulted in the death of the so-called mother bird, researchers said.
"The egg shell consists of two layers instead of one as in normal healthy bird eggs, indicating the egg was retained too long inside the abdomen," Dr. Alida Bailleul said in comments obtained by SWNS.
"This condition often occurs in living birds as a result of stress," she continued.
"In addition, the eggshell preserved in Avimaia was extremely thin – thinner than a sheet of paper – and did not show the correct proportions of healthy eggs.
These abnormalities suggest that the preserved egg may have been the cause of death of this 'mother bird.'"
Bailleul added that this type of abnormality has been seen elsewhere in the animal kingdom, including in sauropod dinosaurs, "as well as in many fossil and living turtles."
Since the fossil was crushed flat, it was only after the researchers extracted a small fragment and analyzed it did they realize the unusual tissue was an egg.
The specimen contains not only the eggshell itself, but also the membrane and the cuticle, which are largely made up of proteins and other organic materials.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Looks just like mama!
bkmk
Maybe just in case it would have identified as a male.
Omelet time! BFL.
Thanks fieldmarshaldj.
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