为厘定浙江省天台县天台盆地含恐龙骨骼及蛋化石地层的时代,在赋存恐龙骨骼及蛋化石的赖家组和赤城山组陆相红层中选取了晶屑凝灰岩夹层,分别进行了精确的锆石SHRIMP和LA-ICP-MS U-Pb定年.结果显示,赖家组中上部和赤城山组中部晶屑凝灰岩(夹层)的成岩时代分别为100±1 Ma和92±1 Ma,表明赖家组沉积于早白垩世晚期 晚白垩世早期,而赤城山组形成于晚白垩世,二者连续沉积构成了天台盆地含恐龙骨骼和蛋化石的地层;据此推断,与赖家组呈整合接触的下伏塘上组地层的形成时代早于早白垩世晚期(＞100 Ma),而天台盆地恐龙的灭绝时代晚于晚白垩世早期(＜92 Ma).上述研究结果亦可为开展天台盆地与浙东其他盆地之间进行地层划分对比可靠的年代学依据.

Dinosaur eggs collected from the Upper Cretaceous Chichengshan Formation in the Tiantai Basin of Zhejiang Province are referable to the oofamily Dictyoolithidae. On the basis of general external shape, size, eggshell thickness, and eggshell composed of 3-4 superimposed slender shell units with a reticulate organization, a new oogenus and two oospecies, Paradictyoolithus zhuangqianensis oogen. et oosp. nov., and P. xiaxishanensis oogen. et oosp. nov., are erected. The Dictyoolithidae is previously represented by one oogenus and four oospecies, Dictyoolithus hongpoensis, D. neixiangensis, D. jiangi, and D. gongzhulingensis, all of which are known exclusively from the Cretaceous of China. We re-examined the holotypes of the four oospecies, established a new oogenus Protodictyoolithus, and propose only D. hongpoensis belong to the Dictyoolithus, the other that three species of Dictyoolithus should be reassigned to Protodictyoolithus neixiangensis comb. nov., P. jiangi comb. nov. and Similifaveoolithus gongzhulingensis comb. nov., respectively.

Some fossil skeletons of Therizinosauridae dinosaurs were found in Cretaceous Zhongdai and Laijia Formations in Tiantai, Zhejiang Province. It was proved that their distribution areas were spread in Mongolia, Kazakhstan, western area in North America, and northern, northeastern, southern and eastern areas in China. According to the fossils found and studies for over a century, the puzzled paleontologists by the confusing animals for many years discovered and revealed gradually their evolution course, that was evolved successfully from carnivore to mainly vegetarian, or probably both, became euryphagous dinosaurs. The dinosaurs were distributed widely in various environments during Cretaceous period. The pneumaticity in vertebrae of Tiantaisaurus sifengensis found in Tiantai Basin of Zhejiang Province in eastern China suggested that the dinosaurs with big creatures were not bulky and their vertebrae was similar to that of the present birds. Although the pneumaticity of vertebrae of dinosaurs could not determine its acting respiratory system like present birds, yet it undoubtedly benefited the creatures' weight loss and enhanced its flexibility of activity. Then, it could be confirmed that many dinosaurs and birds were closely related during their evolution.

Dinosaur eggs or fragments are abundant and extensively distributed in China. They can be very informative in biostratigraphic division and correlation of continental strata where other fossils are relatively lacking. Despite remarkable discoveries of vertebrate fossils, particularly dinosaur eggs and skeletons from the middle and Late Cretaceous of both northern and southern China, there is hardly any direct evidence for the ages of the vertebrate-bearing terrestrial deposits. To constrain their depositional ages, here we have obtained SIMS U-Pb zircon ages from the tuffs interbedded with dinosaur egg-bearing sediments from the Laijia and Chichengshan formations of the terrestrial red deposits of the Late Cretaceous in the Tiantai Basin, Zhejiang Province, southeastern China. The SIMS zircon U-Pb ages from the Laijia and Chichengshan formations are about 96-99 Ma (Cenomanian) and 91-94 Ma (Turonian), respectively, providing direct time constraints on the vertebrate and dinosaur egg evolution in the Late Cretaceous as well as a basis for correlation with terrestrial Cretaceous deposits in other regions of southern and northern China. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Here we describe new types of dinosaur eggs found from the Late Cretaceous Chichengshan Formation in the Tiantai Basin, Zhejiang Province. On the basis of such characters as small spheroid or near-spheroid, columnar layer composed of three zones, the outer zone consisted of stalagmite-like or coralliform secondary shell units, we established two new oogenera, one new and one combination oospecies: Stalicoolithus shifengensis oogen. et oosp. nov. and Coralloidoolithus shizuiwanensis oogen. et comb. nov. In addition, re-examination of the holotype of Shixingoolithus erbeni from the Upper Cretaceous Pingling Formation, Guangdong Province reveals that it was erroneously attributed to Spheroolithidae, and should be transferred to stalicoolithid. Consequently, we established a new oofamily: Stalicoolithidae oofam. nov. Stalicoolthids represents a new model of dinosaur eggshell and thus sheds new light on the formation and evolution of amniotic eggshells.

Dinosaur eggs are abundant and widely distributed in China.They play an important role in the division and correlation of Cretaceous terrestrial strata.By studying the lithostratigraphy,chronostratigraphy and dinosaur egg biostratigraphy of the Tiantai Basin,this paper presents preliminary comparisons among the dinosaur egg faunas and strata of the major Chinese basins in which dinosaur eggs have been found.These comparisons show that the dinosaur egg fauna of the Tiantai Basin is the oldest,and is successively followed by younger faunas from the Xixia,Laiyang and Nanxiong basins.Compared against the overall stratigraphic framework of the Upper Cretaceous terrestrial red beds of China,the strata of these four basins are early,early-middle,middle-late and late Late Cretaceous in age,respectively.

In the past ten years,a number of dinosaur eggs were found from the Tiantai Basin in Zhejiang Province,and some oospecies were reported by Fang et al.(2000,2003 ),Jin et al.(2007)and Qian et al.(2008).In 2010,we described and revised 12 oogenera and 15 oospecies belonging to seven oofamilies in this basin (Wang,2010),and some new types were reported (Wang et al.,2010a,b; Zhang,2010).At the same time,we comprehensively surveyed localities and horizons of the dinosaur eggs and compared the dinosaur egg faunas in China ( Wang et al.,in press).Here we report a few more new ootypes of dinosaur eggs from the Tiantai Basin.

Thousands of fossil bones and eggs of dinosaurs have been found from the Laijia and Chichengshan formations(Aptian and Cenomanian) of the Tiantai Basin of Zhejiang Province,eastern China.We revised the dinosaur fossil strata of the Tiantai basin based on stratigraphic measurements of several sections.Dinosaurs recovered from the Tiantai Basin include sauropods,hadrosaurs,segnosaurs,ankylosaurs,oviraptorids,troodontids and tyrannosaurs,indicating that the paleoenvironments in the Tiantai Basin were suitable for dinosaurs.Seasonal flash floods and overflowed rivers,when carrying fine-grained sediments,often rapidly buried the eggs to preserved them in the fossil record.The Cretaceous strata in the Tiantai Basin are among those with the most abundant fossil eggs in the world.

Macroelongatoolithid eggs from the Upper Cretaceous Chichengshan Formation in the Tiantai Basin, Zhejiang Province include two taxa: Macroelongatoolithus xixiaensis and Megafusoolithus qiaoxiaensis oogen, et oosp. nov. They are differentiated by the eggshell microstructure and the ornamentation on the outer surface of the eggshell. The diagnosis of Macroelongatoolithus is revised. This oogenus is characterized by its large, elongate, sym-metrical shape; nodular ornamentation of the outer surface of the eggshelh abrupt boundary between the cone and co-lumnar layers, and a thickness ratio of 1 : 5 to 1 : 2 of these layers. Megafusoolithus qiaoxiaensis oogen, et oosp. nov. (IVPP V16965) is diagnosed by its large, elongate shape, ridged ornamentation of the outer surface of the egg-shell, and ambiguous boundary between the cone layer and columnar layer. These two oogenera share some characters such as the large elongated and symmetrical spindle-shape, exceeding 35 cm in length, and a shape index ranging from 32.5 to 36.8. The eggs are generally grouped in pairs in the nest and arranged in one single circular layer with a di-ameter of about 3 m. The microstructure of the eggshell is avian-like, composed on a cone layer and a columnar layer. All these characteristics are significantly different from those of other egg taxa, and are considered to be unique to the oofamily Macroelongatoolithidae. Macroelongatoolithus zhangi and Longiteresoolithus xixiciaensis are here regarded as junior synonyms of Macroelongatoolithus xixiaensis.

Dinosaur eggs are abundant in Tiantai,Zhejiang Province,southeastern China.Some egg taxa have been reported,but most of them were not properly erected.Here,we describe a new egg specimen from the Upper Cretaceous Chichengshan Formation of the Tiantai Basin.

Recently hundreds and thousands of fossil eggs were unearthed from the Cretaceous sequence in Tiantai Basin, Zhejiang Province, eastern China. The Dendroolithus dendriticus discovered from Upper Cretaceous Chichengshan Formation (zircon U-Pb data approximately 92Ma) was a species of the most familiar among those fossil eggs and is identified as the eggs laid by a hadrosaur based on comparisons with ones that is similar egg shell fragments and contained fossilized embryo bones from Xixia Basin, Henan Province, middle China, though any hadrosaur's skull or skeleton has not yet been found in eastern China so far. According to the taxonomy of hadrosaur at present, their fossil eggs should be classified as follows:Suborder Ornithopoda Marsh, 1881—Spheroolithineae oosubord. nov.Superfamily Hadrosauroidea Cope, 1869—Dendroolithoidea oosuperfam. nov.Family Hadrosauridae Cope, 1869—Dendroolithidae Zhao and Li, 1988Spheroolithineae oosubord. nov.Diagnosis. -spheric or flat spheric eggs were laid optionally in a nest.Horizon. -The Triassic to CretaceousDendroolithoidea oosuperfam. nov.Diagnosis. -The eggs were flat spherical and were laid optionally in a nest. The eggshell was rough in the exterior surface and was consisted of two basic layers:outer prismatic and inner mammillary layers. Pore canals branched off mightily.Horizon. -CretaceousOofamily Dendroolithidae Zhao and Li, 1988 Diagnosis and Horizon. -As for oosuperfamily.Oogenus Dendroolithus Zhao and Li, 1988 Type oospecies Dendroolithus wangdianensis Zhao and Li, 1988 Dendroolithus dendriticus Fang et al.,1998 Diagnosis. -The eggs were flat spherical or subspherical in shape, with the diameter of 130mm~140mm and height of about 60mm. The eggshell, rough in the exterior surface and little sleek in the interior surface, was 1mm thick and consisted of two basic layers:outer prismatic and inner mammillary layers. Prisms with growth lines were various in shape and arranged wide-space, and merged together in near exterior surface of the eggshell. The mammillae and prisms were without a diagnosis of borderline between them. A mammilla was wide-rounded and the basal spherolite with radiate crystal lines. Pore canals wide and branched off mightily, and constringed in near exterior surface of the eggshell.Locality and Horizon:Suangtang, Tiantai County, Zhejiang Province. Upper Cretaceous Chichengshan FormationWhich was the hadrosaur laid the Dendroolithus dendriticus in Tiantai Basin? Of excavated known fossil hadrosaurs and doubting hadrosaurs from eastern Asia, except specimens of Tanius, Gilmoreosaurus, Microhadrosaurus, Barsboldia and Nanningosaurus et al. were too fragmentized to reconstruct their appearances, suspects may include Mandschurosaurus, Nipponosaurus, Amurosaurus, Charonosaurus, Olorotitan, Bactrosaurus, Shantungosaurus, Tsintaosaurus and Zhuchengosaurus et al. According to known sizes of fossilized skeleton and eggs of Hypacrosaurus stebingeri and Maiasaura peeblesorum from North America, the length of a hadrosaur laid Dendroolithus dendriticus in Tiantai Basin was less than 7m ( about 21ft. ), and species of the suspicion were just Nipponosaurus sachalinensis, Amurosaurus riabinini and Bactrosaurus johnsoni from Manchuria and Mongolia-Inner Mongolia. However, these three species were too far to nest, lay eggs and hatch in Tiantai Basin (of course, not rule out the possibility of their long-distance migration, though thers was no evidence heretofore). So the hadrosaur laid the Dendroolithus dendriticus likely was an undiscovered species. Furthermore, all of the Dendroolithus dendriticus were flat spherical eggs, and suggested that their eggshell were flexible as that of some modern reptiles, and would be transmogrified by gravity.

Thousands of well-preserved fossil eggs in nests and few fragmentary fossil skeletons of dinosaurs have been found from Cretaceous Chaochuan,Zhongdai,Jinhua,Laijia and Chichengshan formations in Tiantai,Yongkang,Dongyang,Lishui,Jinyun,Jinhua and Jiangshan et al.,Zhejiang Province.Tyrannosaurs,troodontids,oviraptorids,hadrosaurs,segnosaurs,titanosaurs,ankylosaurs and nodosaurs have been identified from these fossils,and suggested various dinosaurs occur in Zhejiang during Cretaceous Period.Based on paleogeographical,sedimentary and taphonomic characteristics,there were numbers of torridity basins surround by mountains,where various dinosaurs lived and nested near rivers and lakes.When seasonal flood came,eggs in nest were submerged and sealed up by mud and sand carried by floodwater,and ultimately becam fossils by diagenesis,while dinosaurs escaped before flood came,or their reliquiae scattered by floodwater.

The unique nesting and egg-laying behaviors of troodontids differ from those of other dinosaurs in that troodontids laid their eggs standing up in sands or muddy soil.The clutches of fossil troodontid eggs have been unearthed from the Mid-Upper Cretaceous sedimentary sequences in Inner Mongolia,Henan and Guangdong.The fossil skeletons of troodontid were found in the Lower Cretaceous strata of Inner Mongolia and Liaoning provinces.Here,we describe a clutch of fossil troodontid eggs in the Cretaceous Chichengshan Formation from Tiantai Basin,Zhejiang Province.The specimens we discovered indicate that the troodontid egg-shell was as rigid as that of some modern bird eggs and was sufficiently strong to resist the pressure while the egg was forced into sands and muddy soil when it was laid.Most other dinosaur eggshells,in contrast,were stretchable as some modern reptile eggs.Dinosaur eggs with stretchable egg-shell are preserved as flattened,circular or oval in outline.In other words,the procreant system of troodontid resembled,to some extent,some modern birds in egg-shell formation.More-over,the troodontid eggs in nest stood aslant more or less outwards.This suggested that an adult female troodontid faced outwards while laying eggs vigilantly.This behavior could be an adaptation to severe competition.

The giant fossil eggs,Macroelongatoolithus xixiaensis,laid by huge tyrannosaurs were recently discovered from Late Cretaceous Chichengshan Formation(approximately 92Ma) in Tiantai County of Zhejiang Province,though some of their fossil skull or skeleton has not yet been found in eastern China so far.Based on the taxonomy of tyrannosaurs at present,the taxonomy of their fossil egg can be proposed accordingly,i.e.Suborder: Theropoda Marsh,1881——Elongatoolithineae oosubord.nov.Superfamily: Tyrannosauroidea Osborn,1905——Macroelongatoolithoidea oosuperfam.nov.Family: Tyrannosauridae Osborn,1905——Macroelongatoolithidae oofam.nov.Elongatoolithineae oosubord.nov.Diagnosis——elliptic elongated eggs were laid in pairs and arranged abreast around a circle in a nest.Horizon——The Triassic to Cretaceous Macroelongatoolithoidea oosuperfam.nov.Diagnosis——giant flat and elliptic elongated eggs were laid in pairs and arranged abreast around a circle in a nest.Horizon——Cretaceous Macroelongatoolithidae oofam.nov.Diagnosis and Horizon——As for oosuperfamily.Oogenus Macroelongatoolithus Li et al.,1995 Type oospecies Macroelongatoolithus xixiaensis Li et al.,1995 Synonymy.2000 Macroelongatoolithus zhangi Fang et al.Which is the tyrannosaur laid the giant Macroelongatoolithus xixiaensis? Of excavated fossil tyrannosaurs from eastern Asia,an adult Guanlong and an adult Dilong were apparently too small,only 3m and 1.6m long respectively,to lay giant eggs,and it was of old age,approximately 160Ma and 130Ma respectively.An adult Alectrosaurus and an adult Alioramus were 5 m~6m long respectively,and perhaps not huge enough to lay such enormous eggs.No other than a Tarbosaurus,which an adult was more than 10 m long,was an imaginabale suspect laid these giant eggs.However all known Tarbosaurus were from terminal Cretaceous Maastrichtian(71Ma~65Ma),and were not identical with Macroelongatoolithus from early Late Cretaceous Turonian(approximately 92Ma).It is possible that the period of Tarbosaurus perhaps was extended to 92Ma,or other unknown huge tyrannosaurs laid these giant eggs in 92Ma.The binate Macroelongatoolithus xixiaensis presented in a nest indicated that the adult female tyrannosaur produced two eggs once in her nest as other theropod,i.e.they had a pair of functional oviducts.All of Macroelongatoolithus xixiaensis,furthermore,were flat oval and suggested that their eggshell were flexible as that of some modern reptiles.These eggs would be transmogrified by gravity,especially giant eggs as Macroelongatoolithus xixiaensis.

The first in situ turtle egg clutch reported from China comes from the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) Liangtoutang Formation in the Tiantai Basin, Zhejiang Province. This clutch originally contained a minimum of 27 eggs, but four eggs separated from the clutch during excavation. The spherical eggs vary from 34 to 52 mm in diameter. The eggshell is 0.7-1.0 mm thick and has straight, narrow shell units with parallel margins and a height-to-width ratio of 2.5-3:1. Two eggs from this clutch previously were used to establish the new oogenus and oospecies Tiantaioolithus jiangi Fang et al., 2003, within the oofamily Testudoolithidae Fang et al., 2003. Based on our examination of all available eggs from this clutch, we propose the following: (1) Testudoolithidae Fang et al., 2003, is a junior homonym for Testudoolithidae Hirsch, 1996; (2) Tiantaioolithus Fang et al., 2003, is a junior subjective synonym of Testudoolithus Hirsch, 1996; and (3) the eggs pertain to a distinct oospecies, namely Testudoolithus jiangi (new combination). A previously unreported, isolated egg from the Upper Cretaceous (stage unknown) Chichengshan Formation in the Tiantai Basin is also referred to Testudoolithus jiangi based on its similar size, shell thickness, and shell unit height-to-width ratio; this specimen thus extends the fossil record of this oospecies into the Late Cretaceous. Taphonomic assessment of the egg block suggests that the egg clutch was buried in the substrate in a manner similar to modern turtles. The large, spherical eggs and large number of eggs in the clutch indicate the eggs were laid by a turtle taxon of large body size. The thick eggshell and sparse pores penetrating the shell indicate adaptation for a relatively arid, terrestrial environment.

The Late Cretaceous Laijia Formation and Chichengshan Formation a re redefined in this paper.The former was established in1978.According to the lithological character,it was originally divided into members a and b.Beca use it yields plenty of dinosaur skeletons and eggs,the formation has arouse d at-tention of domestic and oversea scientists in the part twenty years.In1 994this formation was abolished and replaced by the Liangtoutang and Chicheng shan Formations.After a detailed field study and systematic analysis,the autho rs revised the distribution of the Upper Cretaceous in the Tiantai basin and t he Laijia Formation.The revised Laijia Formation stands for member a of the L aijia Formation and the Chicheng-shan Formation for member b.

The occurrence of fossil eggs in the Late Cretaceous of the Tiantai basin,Zhejiang,southeastern China,is reported.They include the new family Testudoolithidae fam.nov.,the new genus Tiantaioolithus gen.nov.and five new species,Dendroolithus shuangtangensis sp.nov.,Elongatoolithus chichengshanensis sp.nov.,Elongatoolithus laijiaensis sp.nov.,Spheroolithus jincunensis sp.nov.and Tiantaioolithus jiangi sp.nov.The eggs found in the Chichengshan Formation are the most varied,including Elongatoolithidae,Phaceloolithidae,Spheroolithidae and Testudoolithidae fam.nov.,while in the Laijia Formation fossil eggs are scarce and only Elongatoolithidae and Spheroolithidae are found.The fossil eggs are Late Cretaceous in age.It is inferred that the cause for the disappearance of the Tiantai eggs was due to the cooling of the cli-mate,which led to the failure of hatch the eggs normally.The lowering of the hatching rate and breakdown of the reproductive chain might be one the causes for the extinction of dinosaurs.

采用扫描电镜、电子探针和X射线粉末衍射分析技术,研究了浙江天台盆地TB-1恐龙蛋化石的结构和组分.初步了解这个含似蛋白和蛋黄的恐龙蛋化石的结构和组分为:含铁钛的硅酸盐矿物集合体(蛋壳表层)、灰褐色方解石(蛋壳内层)、浅米黄色方解石(壳内矿物层)、白色石膏(腔内似蛋白矿物)和米黄色萤石(腔内似蛋黄矿物).

晚白垩世天台盆地产有丰富的恐龙蛋化石和恐龙骨骼,目前发现17处化石点,分布于街头镇、平桥镇、白鹤镇、坦头镇、屯桥乡以及县城-国清寺-下朱村一带,面积约为230 km2.特别在城关北侧三角区内,面积仅有15 km2,却是天台县化石点集中区域.这些恐龙蛋化石为原地埋藏,产于上白垩统两头塘组和赤城山组.本文初步描述7种类型恐龙蛋化石:天台长形蛋(新种)Elongatoolithus tiantaiensis sp. nov.、国清寺树枝蛋(新种) Dendroolithus guoqingsiensis sp. nov.、张氏巨型长形蛋(新种)Macroelongatoolithus zhangi sp. nov.、张头槽圆形蛋(新种) Spheroolithus zhangtoucaoensis sp. nov.、石嘴湾副圆形蛋(相似种) Paraspheroolithus cf. shizuiwanensis、树枝树枝蛋(相似种)Dendroolithus cf. dendriticus、椭圆形蛋(未定种) Ovaloolithus sp. .