A team of South Korean palaeontologists say they have discovered the world's largest fossilised dinosaur eggs.

The 20 eggs, measuring 41cm (16 inches) from tip to tip, were discovered in a giant nest thought to be 100 million years old.

Experts say they could yield new information about how dinosaurs reproduced and the sort of parental care they gave their young.

The nest, which measures 1.5 metres (four-and-a-half feet) across, was found at a site near Tongyong City.

'National treasure'

Professor Kim Haang-Mook of Pusan University, who is taking party in the excavation, said he believed the eggs belonged to grass-eating dinosaurs.

He said the largest example measured one centimetre longer than any previously found. The width is 12cm (4 inches) across and the shell is 2mm thick.

"We are going to ask the government to designate this site as a national treasure and protect it,'' he added.

Dinosaur eggs have been found at around 200 sites around the world, most of them in China, and are as varied as the species that laid them.

New record

The latest find comes just days after Argentinean palaeontologists announced the discovery of bones from what may be the largest dinosaur species yet uncovered.

They said the dinosaur was a herbivore measuring up to 51 metres (167 feet) long - beating its nearest rival, the 100-tonne Argentinosaurus huinculensis, by a good eight metres (26 feet).

It last walked on Earth during the Cretaceous period, 105-million years ago.

The bones were found by a villager in the southern Patagonian region.