DISCOVERING Dinosaurs: 66 million years old dinosaur eggs found in China | History | New



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Four students discovered dinosaur eggs during a walk in Pingxiang City in Jiangxi Province in southern China. The discovery was made last Saturday and reported to a local museum, where eggs are currently being held. Amazing images show six fossilized dinosaur eggs of different sizes, all covered with red mud. Experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have studied the fossils and confirmed that they were those of dinosaur eggs.

The fossils date back to the late Cretaceous, which extends from the end of the Jurassic period 145 million years ago to the early Paleocene 66 million years ago.

The Tyrannosaurus, Ankylosauris, Parasaurolophus and Triceratops dinosaurs appeared during the Cretaceous period.

This is not the first time that dinosaurs have been discovered in the Pingxiang area, with several fossils of dinosaur skeletons having been discovered in September 2008.

A dinosaur egg fossil with a shell was also discovered on a construction site in April 2010.

Meanwhile, in other discoveries, a dinosaur closely related to Tyrannosaurus rex has finally received the name of a 16-year-old archeology enthusiast who discovered his fossil 20 years ago.

The newly named dinosaur Suskityrannus hazelae was dug up by high school student Sterling Nesbitt during a search in New Mexico in 1998.

Dr. Nesbitt, currently an assistant professor at the Virginia Tech College of Science, led an international collaboration of scientists to classify the dinosaur.

Paleontologists are now certain that Suskityrannus was a small cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex, whose Latin name means king.

Unfortunately for the Suskityrannus, the dinosaur was only slightly larger than an adult dog from Great Dane.

Dr. Nesbitt said: "Suskityrannus gives us insight into the evolution of tyrannosaurs just before they take control of the planet.

"It also belongs to a dinosaur fauna that only reproduces the iconic dinosaurs of the late Cretaceous, including some of the most famous dinosaurs, such as Triceratops, predators like Tyrannosaurus rex and duckbilled dinosaurs like Edmontosaurus.

Paleontologists dated the dinosaur fossil at the time of the Cretaceous.

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