Eggshell and Histology Provide Insight on the Life History of a Pterosaur with Two Functional Ovaries

XIAOLIN WANG, ALEXANDER W. A. KELLNER, XIN CHENG, SHUNXING JIANG, QIANG WANG, JULIANA M. SAYÃO, TAISSA RODRIGUES, FABIANA R. COSTA, NING LI, XI MENG, ZHONGHE ZHOU

The counterpart of a previously described non-pterodactyloid pterosaur with an egg revealed the presence of a second egg inside the body cavity of this gravid female. It clearly shows that pterosaurs had two functional oviducts and demonstrates that the reduction of one oviduct was not a prerequisite for developing powered flight, at least in this group. Compositional analysis of one egg suggests the lack of a hard external layer of calcium carbonate. Histological sections of one femur lack medullary bone and further demonstrate that this pterosaur reached reproductive maturity before skeletal maturity. This study shows that pterosaurs laid eggs even smaller than previously thought and had a reproductive strategy more similar to basal reptiles than to birds. Whether pterosaurs were highly precocial or needed parental care is still open to debate.