Professor Ji Qiang from Nanjing University in East China’s Jiangsu Province says the soft shell of fossilized eggs found from the dinosaur, suggests pterodactyls are ‘oviparous’

This discovery will advance research into pterodactyls' reproduction, evolution and living conditions.

His research is published in the latest issue of the British magazine Nature.

Chinese archaeologists discovered a fossilized pterodactyl egg in Yixian County in northeast China's Liaoning Province in September 2003. The egg, 6.3 cm by 3.6 cm, contains a complete embryo with the head, teeth and hindbrain skull.

It remains controversial among scientists worldwide whether pterodactyls, Mesozoic reptiles capable of flight, were viviparousor oviparous.

This is because scientists around the world haven't found any convincing evidence of the origin of pterodactyls.

(Photo source: qianlong.com. The fossilized pterodactyl was found in northeast China's Jilin province in late December last year.)

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