PBDB Taxon

Basic info	Taxonomic history	Classification	Included Taxa
Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Ovaloolithus

Osteichthyes - Ovaloolithidae

Taxonomy

Ovaloolithus was named by Zhao (1979). It is not extant. It is considered to be a form taxon.

It was synonymized subjectively with Gorgosaurus by Li et al. (1996).

It was assigned to Spheroolithidae by Zhao (1979), Zhao et al. (1991), Zhao (1994); and to Ovaloolithidae by Mikhailov (1991), Mikhailov (1994), Mikhailov et al. (1994), Mikhailov (1997), Mikhailov (2000), Liang et al. (2009), Zhang and Wang (2010), Zhao et al. (2013), Zhang et al. (2017), Tanaka et al. (2023), Wang and Wang (2024).

Species

O. chinkangkouensis, O. dinornithoides, O. huangtulingensis, O. laminadermus, O. mixistriatus, O. monostriatus, O. sangpingensis, O. tenuisus, O. tristriatus, O. turpanensis, O. utahensis, O. weiqiaoensis

Entered

by S. Kuemmell (authorized by J. Alroy) on 2004-02-25; modified by M. Carrano on 2025-11-14

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1979	Ovaloolithus Zhao p. 332
1991	Ovaloolithus Mikhailov p. 219
1991	Ovaloolithus Zhao et al. p. 5
1994	Ovaloolithus Mikhailov p. 155
1994	Ovaloolithus Mikhailov et al. p. 97
1994	Ovaloolithus Zhao p. 188
1997	Ovaloolithus Mikhailov p. 50–52
2000	Ovaloolithus Mikhailov p. 562
2009	Ovaloolithus Liang et al. p. 1590
2010	Ovaloolithus Zhang and Wang p. 74
2013	Ovaloolithus Zhao et al. p. 4665
2017	Ovaloolithus Zhang et al. p. 191
2023	Ovaloolithus Tanaka et al. p. 203
2024	Ovaloolithus Wang and Wang p. 40

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
class	Osteichthyes
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
—	Sauropsida
class	Reptilia
subclass	Eureptilia	()
—	Romeriida
—	Diapsida	()
—	Archosauromorpha	(Huene 1946)

Rank	Name	Author
—	Crocopoda
—	Archosauriformes	Gauthier 1986
—	Eucrocopoda
—	Archosauria	()
informal	Avemetatarsalia
—	Ornithodira
—	Dinosauromorpha
—	Dinosauriformes
—	Dinosauria	()
—	Ornithischia	()
—	Neornithischia	()
—	Pyrodontia
—	Cerapoda
suborder	Ornithopoda
infraorder	Iguanodontia
—	Euiguanodontia
—	Dryomorpha
—	Ankylopollexia
—	Styracosterna
—	Hadrosauriformes
—	Hadrosauroidea	()
family	Ovaloolithidae
genus	Ovaloolithus

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

G. †Ovaloolithus Zhao 1979

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†Ovaloolithus chinkangkouensis Chao and Chiang 1974

†Ovaloolithus dinornithoides Mikhailov 1994

†Ovaloolithus huangtulingensis Yu 1998

†Ovaloolithus laminadermus Young 1954

†Ovaloolithus mixistriatus Zhao 1979

†Ovaloolithus monostriatus Zhao 1979

†Ovaloolithus sangpingensis Fang 1998

†Ovaloolithus tenuisus Bray 1999

†Ovaloolithus tristriatus Zhao 1979

†Ovaloolithus turpanensis Zhang and Wang 2010

†Ovaloolithus utahensis Bray 1999

†Ovaloolithus weiqiaoensis Yu 1998

Diagnosis

Reference	Diagnosis
K. E. Mikhailov 1994	Large oval eggs (El = 1.2-1.4) with typical ovaloolithid shell microstructure (angustispherulitic morphotype, rimocanaliculate with elements of angusticanaliculate and prolatocanaliculate type of pore system; fig. 1d, e).
K. E. Mikhailov 1997	Medium-sized, ellipsoidal eggs (El = 1.2-1.4) with eggshell structure typical for ovaloolithids. Rimo-pore canals prevail among the range of rimo-, prolato-, and angusti- pore canals. General range of eggshell thickness is 1.3-3.0 mm.

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

hydroxyapatiteo

Entire body:

yeso

Adult length:

10 to < 100o

Adult width:

1.0 to < 10o

Adult height:

1.0 to < 10o

Architecture:

compact or denseo

Ontogeny:

accretion, modification of partso

Grouping:

gregariouso

Environment:

terrestrialo

Locomotion:

actively mobileo

Life habit:

ground dwellingo

Diet:

herbivoresubo

Reproduction:

oviparouso

Dispersal:

direct/internalo

Dispersal 2:

mobileo

Created:

2009-01-03 20:40:05

Modified:

2009-01-03 22:40:05

Source: subo = suborder, o = order

References: Benton 1983, Marsh 1875, Kiessling 2004

Age range: base of the Early/Lower Turonian to the top of the Late/Upper Maastrichtian or 93.90000 to 66.00000 Ma

Collections (23 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Late/Upper Cenomanian - Turonian	100.5 - 89.8	China (Zhejiang)	O. sp. (205657)
Cenomanian - Santonian	100.5 - 83.6	Mongolia (Dornogov)	Dinosauria indet. (65341) Ovaloolithidae indet. (65342)
Early/Lower Turonian - Middle Campanian	93.9 - 72.2	China (Henan)	O. sangpingensis (55688)
Late/Upper Coniacian	89.8 - 85.7	China (Henan)	O. chinkangkouensis (275543 275548)
Coniacian - Santonian	89.8 - 83.6	China (Henan)	O. sp. (35924)
Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	China (Shandong)	Oolithes chinkangkouensis (80115) Oolithes chinkangkouensis, Oolithes spheroides (80114) Oolithes spheroides (55471 71900 80116) O. chinkangkouensis, Reptilia indet. (24757)
Late/Upper Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	Mongolia (Omnogov)	Ovaloolithidae indet. (65344)
Campanian - Maastrichtian	83.6 - 66.0	China (Xinjiang)	O. turpanensis (97944)
Lancian	72.2 - 66.0	USA (Utah)	O. utahensis (14599)
Late/Upper Maastrichtian	72.2 - 66.0	USA (Utah)	O. utahensis (45722 138563)
Maastrichtian	72.2 - 66.0	USA (Utah)	O. utahensis, O. tenuisus (138566 138567)
Maastrichtian	72.2 - 66.0	Mongolia (Omnogov)	Ovaloolithidae indet. (65345) O. dinornithoides (73437 165580)