A SPECTACULAR fossil, the only one known to contain an embryonic pterosaur, suggests the flying reptiles laid soft eggs rather than hard ones.
Fossilised dinosaur eggs are common, although very few contain the bones needed to identify the parents. Fossilised lizard and bird eggs have also been found but none from a pterosaur, until now.
The new find comes from the Liaoning fossil beds in north-eastern China, which are famed for preserving impressions of bird and dinosaur fossils. It dates from the early Cretaceous period around 121 million years ago and was preserved in the sediment of an ancient lake.…
