Possible fossil ostracod (Crustacea) eggs from the Cretaceous of Brazil

Abstract. Spherical objects recovered from the acetic acid preparation residues of vertebrate fossils from the Santana Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of northeast Brazil are postulated as the eggs of the ostracod Pattersoncypris micropapillosa Bate, 1972 (Ostracoda). These spheres are phosphatized and range from 85 to 110 μm in diameter, and are comparable in many respects to the eggs of several Recent ostracod species.