Oolithes

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Oolithes
Temporal range: Bathonian-Maastrichtian
~167.7–66  Ma
Oolithes spheroides (Senckenberg).jpg
Oolithes sphaericus
Egg fossil classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Oogenus: Oolithes
Buckman, 1860
Oospecies
  • O. bathonicae
  • O. nanhsiungensis
  • O. obtusatus
  • O. sphaericus

Oolithes is an oogenus with uncertain affinities. It has historical significance because it was the earliest named oogenus. James Buckman described the first named species as Oolithes bathonicae in a communication to the 4 May 1859 meeting of the Geological Society (published in 1860). Buckman believed that Oolithes represented the eggs of a teleosaurian reptile. [1]

Since Buckman's description of O. bathonicae, two other oospecies have been named: O. nanhsiungensis and O. sphaericus, both of which were native to the Maastrichtian of China. [2] [3]

References

  1. Buckman, James (1860), "On some fossil reptilian eggs from the Great Oolite of Cirencester" , Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 16: 107–110, doi:10.1144/gsl.jgs.1860.016.01-02.11
  2. Konstantin E. Mikhailov, Emily S. Bray & Karl E. Hirsch (1996). "Parataxonomy of fossil egg remains (Veterovata): basic principles and applications". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 16 (4): 763–769. doi:10.1080/02724634.1996.10011364. JSTOR   4523773.
  3. Paleobiology Database