| Cairanoolithus Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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| Cairanoolithus dughii | |
Egg fossil classification 
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| Basic shell type: | †Dinosauroid-spherulitic |
| Oofamily: | †Cairanoolithidae Sellés and Galobart, 2015 |
| Oogenus: | †Cairanoolithus Vianey-Liaud et al., 1994 |
| Oospecies | |
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| Synonyms | |
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Cairanoolithus is an oogenus of dinosaur egg which is found in Southwestern Europe. The eggs are large (15–19 centimetres or 6–7+1⁄2 inches in diameter) and spherical. Their outer surface is either smooth, or covered with a subdued pattern of ridges interspersed with pits and grooves. Multiple fossil egg clutches are known but the nest structure is unclear.
The parent of Cairanoolithus is probably some kind of non-ornithopod ornithischian, possibly the nodosaurid Struthiosaurus.
The eggs were first named in 1994, when the two oospecies were classified in distinct oogenera as Cairanoolithus dughii and Dughioolithus roussetensis. They are now considered to belong in a single oogenus, possibly even a single oospecies. Though it has been classified as a megaloolithid, Cairanoolithus is now placed in its own oofamily, Cairanoolithidae.[1][2]
- ^ Carpenter, Kenneth (1999). Eggs, Nests, and Baby Dinosaurs: A Look at Dinosaur Reproduction (Life of the Past). Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University. ISBN 978-0253334978.
- ^ Sellés, A.G.; Galobart, À (2016). "Reassessing the endemic European Upper Cretaceous dinosaur egg Cairanoolithus". Historical Biology. 28 (5): 583–596. doi:10.1080/08912963.2014.998666. S2CID 85205835.