Oviraptorosaurs are bizarre and fascinating non-avian dinosaurs that were prolific in North American and Asian terrestrial ecosystems, particularly during the Cretaceous Period. Part of their remarkable physiology is their unique reproductive ecology. They laid the longest eggs ever known, in pairs from dual functioning oviducts, into a concentric, multi-layered, inclined ring on the ground containing >10 pairs of eggs. Recent evidence suggests that these eggs, sometimes exceeding 50 cm in length, were pigmented with biliverdin, making them a blue-green color. The shell, often over 2 mm thick, was sculpted with ornamentation, making unusual three dimensional patterns. Other dinosaur eggs also exhibit ornamentation, but none are as extreme as oviraptorosaurs.
These patterns are not consistent between or within taxa. Individual nests, where preserved, show great variation in the ornamentation patterns produced. Using new methods of quantifying external surfaces, I am researching the extent of ornamentation variation in oviraptorosaurs in a quest to explain the patterns of difference that can’t be explained by inter-specific variation. I am comparing eggs of a new nest from North America (below) to the numerous finds from Asia to answer this question.
