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full screen The Ganzou mini eggs measure just 29 millimeters. They were found in China’s Jiangxi province at a construction site. Photo: China University Of Geosciences
They are small like grapes and six in number.
The mini eggs are 80 million years old – and an unknown relative of Tyrannosaurus rex.
The newly discovered eggs were rescued at a construction site in Jiangxi province in China just a few days before construction was to start, writes Live Science.
According to the researchers, the small fossils are in exceptionally good condition and the smallest dinosaur eggs found in the country.
The mini eggs, called “Ganzou mini eggs”, were in a lump of rock, making it more difficult to determine whether the eggs were from the same nest.
The stone is around 80 million years old from the Cretaceous period (145 million to 66 million years ago) and was found in 2021, according to Chinese media.
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full screen The eggs belong to a species that is probably related to Tyrannosaurus rex. Photo: Susan Montoya Bryan/AP
It is unclear how big they had become
The smallest egg is just 2.9 centimeters long, taking over the land dinosaur record from Himeoolithus murakamii, a chicken-like dinosaur found in Japan. That egg was around 100 million years old and measured 4.5 centimeters, according to the report Guinness book of records.
According to a study published in Historical Biology the eggs are likely from a previously unknown species related to large predators such as Tyrannosaurus rex. The eggs have been named Minioolithus ganzhouensis.
It is still unclear how big the dinosaurs would have been if the eggs had hatched.