Brachiosaurus eggs found in a straight line on the ground?

[andrewsaurus rex]

Have Brachiosaurus eggs been found laid in a straight line?  A few sites on the internet claim this but the sites seem a bit dodgy to me.  I wasn't aware Brachiosaurus eggs had even been discovered.  What do they look like?

[Stuckasaurus (Dino Dad Reviews)]

I'm not aware that anybody has claimed to have found brachiosaur eggs specifically, but you might be thinking of sauropod nest that are dug in simple trench shapes.

[andrewsaurus rex]

no, i'm quite familiar with the titanosaur nests that have been found around the world.  I've done a lot of reading on them in the past. 

I was surprised to hear that Brachiosaurus eggs have been found laid in a straight line on the ground.  Being a titanosauriform, I assumed Brach. would have had nests similar to other titanosaurs.  The strategy of laying eggs on the ground doesn't make sense to me.  Given the length of gestation of the eggs, I could see 100% of them being lost to predation or just  from other animals stepping on them.  Plus how would they get enough warmth to incubate?  I am also unaware of any Brach. eggs being found. thus far.

I found a number of sites that made the claim of Brach. eggs in a straight line, but as I said, they didn't seem to be the most reliable and may have  all been parroting one another.

[Newt]

If so, there doesn't seem to be anything in the published literature about it. I think you are right to be skeptical.

Putting aside the plausibility of Brachiosaurus or any other sauropod depositing an unprotected linear egg buffet, some other points make this claim dubious.

1) How were the eggs identified as Brachiosaurus? There would either have to be an associated adult or an exquisitely-preserved embryo, either of which would be newsworthy in itself.

1a.) Even if there were an embryo, it would have to show unique features of Brachiosaurus, as opposed to one of the numerous other sauropod taxa found in the Morrison Formation (or Tendaguru Formation, if they are assigning it to Brachiosaurus (=Giraffatitan) brancai). Not a given, as many identifying osteological features of adult dinosaurs are absent or not preserved in fossil embryos.

2) So far as I can tell, the only dinosaur eggs described from the Morrison have been shell fragments; nests and whole eggs are unknown. The only fragments that have been described are Preprismatoolithus, which are putative theropod eggs, and Prismatoolithus, associated with Dryosaurus. Again, the discovery of sauropod eggs in the most sauropod-rich formation would be big news and we would have heard all about it before now.

3) If a sauropod nest were to be found in the Morrison, it seems much more likely that it would belong to a common genus such as Camarasaurus, Diplodocus, or Apatosaurus. Brachiosaurus is a rare find.

None of these arguments is conclusive, but they combine to make me skeptical of the claim that a Brachiosaurus nest has been found.

[andrewsaurus rex]

Great post, Newt.