Genus
Formal taxon Extinct

Spheroolithus

Zhao 1979

Spheroolithus is an oogenus of dinosaur egg.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
38
Group
Dinosaures
Herbivore Ground dwelling, gregarious Terrestrial
Spheroolithus
click to enlarge
Spheroolithus fossil dinosaur eggs, from China. Exhibit in the Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Photography was permitted in this area of the museum without restrictions. © Daderot · Public domain · Wikimedia
PBDB Wikipedia
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
Ornithischia Unranked clade
Neornithischia Unranked clade
Pyrodontia Unranked clade
Cerapoda Unranked clade
Ornithopoda Suborder
Iguanodontia Infraorder
Euiguanodontia Unranked clade
Dryomorpha Unranked clade
Ankylopollexia Unranked clade
Styracosterna Unranked clade
Hadrosauriformes Unranked clade
Hadrosauroidea Unranked clade
Spheroolithidae Family
Spheroolithus Genus
Fossil sites 38 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇺🇸 United States
11
🇨🇳 China
9
🇨🇦 Canada
5
🇲🇽 Mexico
4
🇲🇳 Mongolia
4
🇪🇸 Spain
2
🇮🇳 India
2
🇯🇵 Japan
1
Geological formations
Oldman
3
El Gallo
3
Quantou
2
Jiangjunding
2
Lameta
2
Temporal distribution
Maastrichtian (72.2–66 Ma)
8
Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)
20
Coniacian (89.8–85.7 Ma)
3
Cenomanian (100.5–93.9 Ma)
4
Albian (113.2–100.5 Ma)
3
Species (8)
Spheroolithus albertensis 101 Ma
Spheroolithus chiangchiungtingensis 90 Ma
Spheroolithus choteauensis 84 Ma
Spheroolithus europaeus 101 Ma
Spheroolithus jincunensis 101 Ma
Spheroolithus maiasauroides 84 Ma
Spheroolithus quantouensis 121 Ma
Spheroolithus spheroides 121 Ma
Images 1
Bibliography
Original description
Z. Zhao. 1979. [Advances in the study of fossil dinosaur eggs in our country]. Mesozoic and Cenozoic red beds of South China; selected papers from the field conference on the South China Cretaceous-Early Tertiary red beds. Science Press, Beijing
Bibliography (22)
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K. Tanaka, D. K. Zelenitsky, and F. Therrien, Y. Lee, K. Kubota, Y. Kobayashi, G. F. Funston, T. Khishigjav. 2023. Description and review of non-avian dinosaur eggs from Cretaceous deposits of the Mongolian Gobi Desert. Windows into Sauropsid and Synapsid Evolution: Essays in Honor of Louis L. Jacobs
J. S. Cabrera-Hernández, M. Montellano-Ballesteros, and P. D. Roy, D. E. Fastovsky. 2022. Eggshells assemblages and stable isotope composition in the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) El Gallo Formation of Baja California, Mexico: Paleoenvironmental inferences. Cretaceous Research 138(78):105265 DOI ↗
S.-K. Zhang. 2022. A revision of the eggshell fragment of Spheroolithus megadermus from Laiyang, Shandong Province, China. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 60(1):59-68
M. Pérez-Pueyo, P. Cruzado-Caballero, and M. Moreno-Azanza, B. Vila, D. Castanera, J. M. Gasca, E. Puértolas-Pascual, B. Bádenas, J. I. Canudo. 2021. The tetrapod fossil record from the uppermost Maastrichtian of the Ibero-Armorican Island: an integrative review based on the outcrops of the western Tremp Syncline (Aragón, Huesca Province, NE Spain). Geosciences 11:162:1-38 DOI ↗
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M. S. Fernández and A. Khosla. 2015. Parataxonomic review of the Upper Cretaceous dinosaur eggshells belonging to the oofamily Megaloolithidae from India and Argentina. Historical Biology 27(2):158-180 DOI ↗
A. G. Sellés, B. Vila, and Á. Galobart. 2014. Spheroolithus europaeus, oosp. nov. (Late Maastrichtian, Catalonia), the youngest oological record of hadrosauroids in Eurasia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 34(3):725-729 DOI ↗
J.-Y. Liu, Q. Wang, and Z.-K. Zhao, X.-L. Wang, C.-L. Gao, C.-Z. Shen. 2013. A parataxonomic revision of spheroolithid eggs from the Upper Cretaceous Quantou Formation in Changtu, Liaoning. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 51(4):278-288
F. D. Jackson and D. J. Varricchio. 2010. Fossil eggs and eggshell from the lowermost Two Medicine Formation of western Montana, Sevenmile Hill locality. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30(4):1142-1156 DOI ↗
D. K. Zelenitsky and W. J. Sloboda. 2005. Eggshells. Dinosaur Provincial Park: A Spectacular Ancient Ecosystem Revealed. Indiana University Press, Bloomington
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D. K. Zelenitsky and L. V. Hills. 1997. Normal and pathological eggshells of Spheroolithus albertensis, oosp. nov., from the Oldman Formation (Judith River Group, Late Campanian), southern Alberta. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 17(1):167-171 DOI ↗
K. E. Mikhailov. 1994. Eggs of sauropod and ornithopod dinosaurs from the Cretaceous deposits of Mongolia. Paleontological Journal 28(3):141–159
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