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Small dinosaur egg?


Crazyhen

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Picture is out of focus, and I am not seeing any eggshell material. :( 

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Egg or not, I'd keep it if it were mine. :D

Accomplishing the impossible means only that the boss will add it to your regular duties.

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I don't know if you are the same dude I've been talking to but this reminds me of Eocene crocodile eggs from France. Some turtle eggs have the same morphology despite being from different formations and locality. Croc eggs may be similar

 

6137-12.jpg.07b70dd577b63040f374c788be640b07.jpg

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On 25/01/2021 at 2:33 AM, -Andy- said:

I don't know if you are the same dude I've been talking to but this reminds me of Eocene crocodile eggs from France. Some turtle eggs have the same morphology despite being from different formations and locality. Croc eggs may be similar

 

6137-12.jpg.07b70dd577b63040f374c788be640b07.jpg

Funny that you'd mention that, as this was also my first thought, although the size is a bit small for a crocodile egg. It may therefore well be a lizard or snake egg, which were also soft-shelled and of roughly the same shape as crocodile eggs - at least in the French Eocene deposits you're referring to (I presume you're referring in particular to Bouxwiller in the Alsace).

 

Generally the eggs in these deposits are preserved either as hollow calcite shells, or as a chalk infill/mould. Of these, the latter type are typically found surrounded by a soft chalky layer that may result in the egg looking a bit rough when prepared. As the eggshell had disintegrated during the fossilisation process and was smooth and textureless to start off with anyway, one of the best pieces of evidence for these egg fossils indeed being fossilised eggs ids not available.

 

OP's specimen has a completely different matrix than that which preserves the French Eocene eggs, which is less grainy. However, I'm not sure whether this would rule out the preservation of eggs. In any case, the roughened surface of, and presence of discoloured spots on, the presumed egg would suggest that its preservation is similar to the infilled and encapsulated chalky type. This makes it more difficult to confirm this being an egg, unless other soft-shelled eggs are known from the same formation, but at the same time forms an argument for the egg having been soft-shelled.

 

I find it hard to decide on authenticity with these kind of pieces, unless self-collected or obtained from a reputable dealer. However, even though I was initially sceptical, I now think this fossil has potential for being a fossiled lizards egg.

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'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett

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