Cpt. Nemo Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Here is an eggshell of the French Miocene. We would say a small egg of a centimeter ( as an egg of hummingbird for example). Have you ever seen this kind of thing? Collection & Exchanges Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glacialerratic Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Reminds me of a lizard egg. Nice find! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt. Nemo Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 Hello,Effectively, the size reminds the lizard. But the eggshell of a lizard is supple, to my knowledge. Collection & Exchanges Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Ten years ago, I would have said that hummingbirds were known only from the new world, but fossils were found in 30 MYO deposits in southern Germany. That said, it is difficult for me to extrapolate the original shape of this egg; it almost seems to be too elongate to be from a hummingbird, and there is no other bird that could have laid such a tiny egg (1 cm). Also, some irregularities in the surface suggest that it may not have been a brittle shell. Short of microscopic analysis of the shell's structure, I lean toward it as being from a lizard. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt. Nemo Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 Effectively: today hummingbirds are only in North America, but in the Miocene one there found that in Europe. The shell(misprint) is similar in thickness and in color to those of bigger birds than I found in the same sector. I am going to try to make abetter photo to see thepossible irregularities of the misprint. Collection & Exchanges Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt. Nemo Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 Some other photos: Collection & Exchanges Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 A typical small passerine's egg is 2.22cm X 1.59cm; is your 1cm measurement an approximation of the egg unbroken, of is it the length of the specimen as-is? "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt. Nemo Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 Is the length of the specimen as-is.But seen the shape, I do not think whether it is much longer integer. Collection & Exchanges Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
painshill Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Had you considered it might be a rail egg (Rallidae)? Those are reported from the Miocene of France and rails can be quite small (modern species down to about 12cm for the bird itself). I have seen Palaeoaramides and Paraortygometra reported for the French Late Oligocene/Early Miocene - Late Miocene for example. There is one species in particular reported from France - Palaeoaramides minutus - which I assume from the name was one of the tiny species. Roger I keep six honest serving-men (they taught me all I knew);Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who [Rudyard Kipling] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Rails lay big eggs for the size of the bird (precocial young, you know; hatching at an advanced state of development). Even the smallest rail would have much larger eggs than this. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt. Nemo Posted February 22, 2013 Author Share Posted February 22, 2013 The idea is interesting. The environment can correspond: banks of lakes.But as Auspex I think that their eggs are bigger. However I do not know the species Palaeoaramides minutus which is maybe smaller? Collection & Exchanges Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
painshill Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 (edited) The idea is interesting. The environment can correspond: banks of lakes. But as Auspex I think that their eggs are bigger. However I do not know the species Palaeoaramides minutus which is maybe smaller? I have no idea either. I believe P. christyi is the largest of the genus and P. minutus is the smallest (so far). Lengths for the tarsometatarsi of the two species from incomplete specimens in the BMNH are 60mm and 25mm respectively but I don’t know how that relates to bird size in rails, never mind egg size! Edited February 22, 2013 by painshill Roger I keep six honest serving-men (they taught me all I knew);Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who [Rudyard Kipling] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glacialerratic Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 the eggshell of a lizard is supple, to my knowledge. Would this show as a thinner shell? Best wishes on narrowing down the ID! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt. Nemo Posted February 22, 2013 Author Share Posted February 22, 2013 To my knowledge we do not know fossils of eggs of lizard about supple misprint. Those of Bouxwiller would not be there. And here the misprint looks like completely (thickness,color) to those of the other eggs of bigger birds found in the same place. Collection & Exchanges Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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