Researchers found a spectacular prehistoric dinosaur egg about 120 million years old in China. This showed the differences in gender of a flying reptile that lived together with the dinosaurs.

Paleontologists said that eggs of pterosaurs have never been found because they have flattened throughout the fossilization process. However, researchers said that the discovery of five pterosaur eggs spectacularly preserved in three dimensions in a site in China has been a breakthrough.

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Pterosaurs were the first flying vertebrates to inhabit the earth. The creatures lived around 220 million years ago to 65 million years ago after asteroids hit the earth that also caused the death of the dinosaurs.

The site in the northwestern part of China which holds the flying reptiles’ eggs also have fossils of not less than 40 newly identified species. These were found near a huge freshwater lake and were believed to be from a busy colony.

Paleontologist Zhonghe Zhou said that the location marked the most significant pterosaur site ever excavated. The eggs were excavated along with the new species identified as the Hamipterus tianshanensis. The creature had pointed teeth for catching fish and a long skull with a crest on top of it. The wingspan of the creature was also said to be more than 3.5 meters.

The five eggs were described to be flexible with a hard outer layer marked with cracks. It resembled the looks of modern day snake and lizards eggs, said another researcher Xiaolin Wang. Wang said that the newly found pterosaur eggs were best preserved.

Wang also said that the site where they found the eggs reveals the kind of life that these creatures lived. He added that there were at least 40 male and female of the flying reptile found. Furthermore, he said that there may even be hundreds of pterosaurs in the area.

The discovery of the ancient dinosaur eggs indicated that pterosaurs lived in big colonies. The researchers said that the creature nest their eggs near the lake and buried these in moist sand to prevent it from drying. Meanwhile, Zhou said that the surprisingly huge population unearthed from the site showed that the pterosaurs were sociable.

Wang said that the fossils they have excavated from the site showed the differences of gender among the creature. For instance, male pterosaurs have bigger head crests from the females.

The site was discovered in 2005 in China’s Xinjiang province. Zhou said that the site was probably from the Cretaceous period where creatures died after a big storm hit the earth.

TagsPterosaurs, Zhonghe Zhou, Xiaolin Wang