Preferred orientation of calcite in the ratite and tinamou eggshells

Abstract

Using X‐ray diffractometry, the development of preferred orientation was studied in one species from each of the extant ratite families, from two moas and two tinamous and, as a preliminary comparison, from representative species from 16 of the other carinate orders. A preferred orientation begins to develop immediately after the start of shell deposition, and in all shells studied was one in which the (001) planes tend to lie parallel to the shell surface. The degree of (001) texture that develops in the ratite and tinamou shells is greater than that developed in the other carinate orders. Development in the ostrich, kiwi and tinamou is uninterrupted so that there is a very high degree of (001) preferred orientation at the exteriors of the shells. In the Emu, cassowary, rhea and the two moa species, a very high degree of (001) texture reverses gradually within the central layer of the shell, and in some species this is accompanied by the development of a very weak (104) preferred orientation. The weak (001) textures observed in the shells of the 20 species from the carinate orders other than the Tinamiformes develop slowly and without interruption through the shell; in four species a weak (104) texture develops simultaneously to that of the (001), forming a double texture similar to that already reported in the majority of shells of the domestic fowl.