A new oospecies, Megaloolithus matleyi, from the Lameta Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of Chandrapur district, Maharashtra, India, and general remarks on the palaeoenvironment and nesting behaviour of dinosaurs

Abstract

New occurrences of fossilised eggs of different structural types have been documented from the Upper Cretaceous Lameta Formation of the Chandrapur district of Maharashtra, central India. For the eggshells of tubospherulitic morphotype a new oospecies, Megaloolithus matleyisp. nov., has been established. For the shells of prolatospherulitic and testudoid morphotypes, a general description is given. The eggshells occur in calcretized sandstones that reflect deposition in alluvial-limnic environments under semi-arid conditions. There is evidence for colonial nesting, selection of nesting sites on river-banks, and burial of nests by sauropods.