Dating dinosaur oodiversity: chronostratigraphic control of LateCretaceous oospecies succession.

Nieves Lopez-Martinez

Cite this article: Lopez-Martinez N., 2003. Dating dinosaur oodiversity: chronostratigraphic control of LateCretaceous oospecies succession. Palaeovertebrata 32 (2-4): 121-148.

Abstract

An increasing fossil record of dinosaur eggs and eggshells allows putting ootaxa within a chronostratigraphic framework, in order to study their distribution pattern leading eventually to their use as biochronological markers. For these purposes, high-quality data exists in four major regions; North America, South America, Europe and Asia (Central Asia and India). Most of the highly diverse dinosaur egg record has been dated as Latest Cretaceous in age (Campanian-Maastrichtian), reaching the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary closer than the dinosaur bone record. However, dating continental sections is problematic and need to be carefully verified, as it appears when comparing the European dinosaur eggshell record from two well-studied areas. Ootaxa distribution in both sides of the Pyrenees (Tremp and Aix basins) shows comparable oospecies successions, but different chronology. This disagreement probably indicates that one or both successions have a wrong chronostratigraphic calibration.