Dinosaur eggs and clutches from Pinyes locality (Upper Cretaceous, Southern Pyrenees)

Abstract

We describe a new megaloolithid locality in Catalonia (Coll de Nargó, NE Iberian Peninsula). Eggs at the Pinyes site occur within extensively developed, vertically-stacked paleosols. Ten clutches were excavated and mapped and biological and taphonomic aspects recorded. Three-dimensional maps were constructed using a Total Station. The use of traditional plan view and cross sectional mapping to supplement 3D reconstruction of egg positions allows more accurate interpretation of egg and clutch distribution. The eggs are referable to Megaloolithus siruguei, and tangential thin sections reveal abundant pore openings on the egg surface, suggesting incubation in a high humidity, low oxygen environment. These data support previous inferences that megaloolithid eggs were laid in excavated shallow pits, although whether or not the eggs were covered with sediment remains unclear.