RE: Troodon eggs

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> Ken Kinman
>
>       I have not yet read the paper cited below, but wonder if
> anyone knows
> if their conclusions have been challenged.  Particularly the
> conclusion that
> the "non-ornithoid" eggs they found are troodontids.

Would be difficult to discount, as these eggs contain embryonic remains of
troodontids...

> They
> apparently also
> reject the Troodon identification of ornithoid eggs found earlier in
> Montana.

Yes. Basically, the eggs long identified as from _Orodromeus_ in fact belong
to _Troodon_ (see Horner & Weishampel 1996. Nature 383: 103).  From the
Varricchio et al. paper:
        "Additionally, the tentative assignment of Two Medicine ornithoid-ratite
egs with a dispersituberculate surface to ?_Troodon_ (...) is incorrect.
These eggs remain unassignable to a specific dinosaur taxon."

Off the top of my head, I would speculate those eggs might be
_Chirostenotes_ or _Ricardoestesia_, among named dinosaurs.

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
                College Park, MD  20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/tholtz.htm
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
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