Fossilized eggs at Oregon national monument baffle researchers — until now, rangers say
A nest containing fossilized eggs estimated to be 29 million years old at an Oregon national monument has been identified, the National Park Service reported.
The eggs, originally thought to be ant eggs, are actually from grasshoppers, rangers said in a Jan. 12 news release.
The nest, found at John Day Fossil Beds National Monument near Kimberly, Oregon, in 2016, contains the first fossilized grasshopper eggs and egg pod to be identified, rangers said.
Scientists used micro-CT scans to examine the inner structure of the eggs and egg pod, rangers said.
“The shape of the eggs is consistent with modern grasshoppers that lay their eggs in underground nests,” rangers said in the release.
The scientific name of the eggs, Curvellipsoentomoolithus laddi, pays tribute to Benjamin Ladd, the first National Park Service superintendent of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, rangers said.
The nest was found in the Sheep Rock Unit of the national monument, rangers said.
A study of the eggs has been published in the Parks Stewardship Forum.
The John Day Fossil Beds National Monument covers 14,000 acres and contains fossils dating back 44 million years, the park service said.
But the monument has no dinosaur fossils since it was underwater at that time.
Kimberly is about 215 miles southeast of Portland.
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