Oolithes

For the sedimentary rock, see Oolite.

Oolithes Temporal range: Bathonian-Maastrichtian ~167.7–66 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Oolithes spheroides
Egg fossil 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]

References

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