Oolithes

For the sedimentary rock, see Oolite.

Oolithes
Temporal range: Bathonian-Maastrichtian
~167.7–66 Ma
Oolithes spheroides
Egg fossil classification Edit this classification
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. spheroides, both of which were native to the Maastrichtian of China.[2][3]

  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