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A teeny tiny dinosaur egg fossil has been found in Japan  🥚🦖

A team of researchers discovered the egg that is smaller than a golf ball. 

With a size of approximately 45 x 20 millimetres, it now holds the record for the smallest fossilized non-avian dinosaur egg.

The egg fossil was found in Tamba City, Hyogo, Japan, which is well known for discovering dinosaur fossils.

The region has areas of exposed soil from the Lower Cretaceous period (which was approximately 110 million years ago).

In egg weighs only around 10 grams – close to the weight of a quail egg. 

The dinosaur has subsequently been named Himeoolithus murakamii, with “hime” meaning small and cute in Japanese, and “murakamii” being derived from Shigeru Murakami, who first discovered this type of dinosaur in 2006.

The team of researchers who discovered this fossil includes Kohei Tanaka, assistant professor of the University of Tsukuba, as well as researchers from University of Calgary, The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, and the Museum of Nature and Human Activities, Hyogo.

“I would be ecstatic if the new record becomes an opportunity for people to realize that record-breaking dinosaur fossils can be discovered in Japan. I hope it will also bring people to think about the wide variety of dinosaurs that lived in the ancient times. I will continue to uncover the mysteries surrounding the dinosaurs’ habitat and their evolution.” – Kohei Tanaka, assistant professor at the University of Tsukuba

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