Egg Fossil?

[Chris82]

Hello,

I have had this fossil for years, as a boy i went fossil hunting very often and have a huge collection of fossil that i have found. Only a few do i not have 100% knowledge of what they are, this being one of them. The pics below show what i call in my eyes a fossil egg, u will see in the pics all the characters that a egg has, thin like cracks and veins inside the shell along with the air pocket that eggs have inside them(Picture of air pocket is very hard to get since it is in very back of egg, did my best.) Shape is also very egg like. A lot more details as u will see that i think make it a fossil egg. Would like to get your opinion, thx. Sorry if i posted to many pics. :huh:

[worthy 55]

It looks like an egg but I can't say for sure. Cool though!!! :Thumbs-up:

[Guest solius symbiosus]

It looks like it is composed of detrital material in a matrix. The rounded appearence suggests that it was found in a creek. I don't think it is an egg, but I have no experience with eggs.

[hybodus]

So... do you remember where it came from? Fossil eggs are VERY uncommon- To be honest it looks like a concretion with a Hematite - or a Hematite geode....

[hybodus]

BTW... I say say Hematite because of pic #2... the interior looks like many that I found in Eocene exposures in Arkansas

[Chris82]

It was found in a dried out creek that has been dry for many years, I wish u could see the details in person its just amazing how much it looks ike a real egg, little stress cracks around the opening and etc seem to suggest it cracked from something breaking out of it. idk.

[Gary]

Almost certainly not an egg. the walls are way too thick for one thing. May be a naturally occuring nodule or remote possibility is a fossil wasp nest. I remember seeing one at a trade show once I attach a photo of a similar looking modern one.

[ashcraft]

I find similar specimens weathering out of McNairy (cretaceous deposits) here in Missouri. I think they are iron based concrertions from burrows in heavy clay.

Brent Ashcraft

[Carl]

Almost certainly not an egg. The "shell" has a sandy look to it instead of the thin, fractured surfaced one would expect in a genuine egg. The cracks on the inside could be the impressions of a disintegrated egg on the inside of a sandy concretion, but I think the wasp nest guess was closer to the true ID: it's probably a bee cell. Have a look at Celliforma at http://www.uoregon.edu/~gregr/fossils.html

[jkfoam]

When I first looked at the pictures it reminded me of a trace fossil like a crab burrow or clam burrow. I also thought it may be a fulgarite.

JKFoam

[worthy 55]

It's a weevil cocoon fossil (Leptopius Duponti) cool, how about that. :Thumbs-up: :Thumbs-up:

[PaleoRon]

Looks like worthy nailed it. I have seen quite a few of the cocoons that look very similar.

[Guest Nicholas]

I agree completely.

[Guest N.AL.hunter]

Sorry, but I am pretty sure this is not an egg or a cocoon fossil. It is what is left form a nodule where the inside was a softer material that was weathered out leaving the outside. Walking along streams and rivers gravel bars can produce finds like this. I have seen many in my 40 years of collecting. The clues are in the composite of materials forming the outside, preserved layer. Even though it is not a fossil, it still is nice looking as a stone.

[Boesse]

I think everyone has already beaten it to death, but one important point remains to be elaborated upon:

Fossil eggs are extremely rare, and are usually regarded as unusual occurrences. Fossil dinosaur eggs in north america (I can't think of any others, e.g. birds/turtle eggs, but dino eggs are far more likely to be preserved anyhow) are restricted to only a few rock units. For example, there are a few formations in the Rocky Mountains such as the Two Medicine Formation and the Judith River Formation that have produced lots of eggs. However, most other rock units with eggshell or eggs reported only represent a few specimens (if even more than one).

The Cleveland Lloyd Quarry egg is probably something else, and is probably not an actual Allosaurus egg.

Most egg occurrences are usually bits of eggshell; there is probably only one complete egg for every thousand pieces of eggshell. And dino eggshell is less than a millimeter thick, so it is extremely hard to even find in the first place.

Phew! I'm done.

[RJB]

Ive seen a heck of alot of fossil eggs, mostly dino eggs at tucson, quite a few turtle eggs and even a fossil duck egg from the white river formation. I even have a couple of dino eggs and a few turtle eggs. My money says that is not even close to a fossil egg. Back when I used to do fossil shows, there was always someone who would bring in a round rock and tell me its an egg. Even when you would exlain to them that its just a concretion or a geode, some still believed it to be an egg! Heck, at one show in Sacromento about 10 years ago, there was this buzz going around how some lady had this big wonderful fossil starfish. I found her, saw her starfish but realized instantly that it was nothing more than a stupid concretion with 5 calcite vains running through it. And there was no way that anyone was going to tell her differently!!! The ignorance out there is absolutly amazing!

RB

[worthy 55]

Well this is still my guess?

[Guest solius symbiosus]

^Compare the relative sizes, and the thickness of the walls of the two. The "egg" also exhibits grains in a matrix and linear structures. I think that it looks like a piece of sandstone.

[Chris82]

Well at least it was a good debate. I believe it is not a egg now also. Cocoon fossil looks promising.

[Guest solius symbiosus]

Nope, It is just rounded and weathered stone from a creek bed.

Sorry, but I am pretty sure this is not an egg or a cocoon fossil. It is what is left form a nodule where the inside was a softer material that was weathered out leaving the outside. Walking along streams and rivers gravel bars can produce finds like this. I have seen many in my 40 years of collecting. The clues are in the composite of materials forming the outside, preserved layer. Even though it is not a fossil, it still is nice looking as a stone.