China: 43 dinosaur egg fossils found during road repairs in Heyuan

Road upgrades led authorities to find an estimated 43 fossilised dinosaur eggs in southern China, according to state media reports.

The eggs were found in early April at the Heyuan city, that is often referred to as the 'Home of Dinosaurs', by construction workers carrying out road repairs.

Du Yanli, the director of the Heyuan Dinosaur Museum, said the eggs were predominately large with one egg reportedly measuring 13cm in diameter and 19 eggs found fully intact, reported the South China Morning Post.

"There are fossilised dinosaur eggs everywhere in the red sandstone layer but they were never found because the city was built on top of the layers," said Yanli.

"With the recent road and sewage system upgrade, the red sandstone layer is being exposed and has led to the discovery of the fossils."

The Chinese Academy of Sciences is presently examining the eggs to determine the species of dinosaur they belong to.

A total of 17,000 fragments of fossilised eggs have so far been found in the Heyuan city, which has a population of 3.3 million, and is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the largest number of dinosaur eggs.

Most of the eggs found in China belong to the Late Cretaceous Age from some 65 to 100 million years ago.

In 2012, over 40 fossilised dinosaur eggs were discovered in Chechnya.

The eggs that were found to date back 60 to 80 million years contained fossilised shells, egg and egg yolk.

Palaeontologists have studied the extinct creatures using dinosaur bones and eggs found over time.