Paleontologists Uncover New Crocodile Species That Laid the Thickest Egg

Paleontologists unearth a new species of crocodile, who laid the thickest egg in the record and breathed with the last dinosaurs before extinction.

Spain-University of Zaragoza paleontologist in collaboration with colleagues from the NOVA University Lisbon and the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution track down the eggshell remains of the largest crocodile species in northeastern Spain, province of Huesca, in the Regaborza region.

The scientist's research was published in an academic journal named Historical Biology on July 21, and the university issued a statement on Wednesday about the said research finding.

They detailed how they discovered more than 300 eggshell remains near Biascas de Obarra, municipality of Beranuy, in Huesca.

Recovering the Eggshell Fragments

According to a statement received by Zenger News from the University of Zaragoza on Wednesday, they said the crocodile remains were found to be the thickest eggshell found in fossil history worldwide. This recent study adds value to the paleontological richness of the Ribagorza region in Spain and how it served as one of the last habitats of the prehistoric creatures at the end of the Cretaceous extinction.

The paleontologist mentioned that the eggshells were dated back to the Upper Cretaceous period which is 250, 000 years ago, quoting: "[the] fragments were part of the eggs laid by crocodiles that lived with the last Iberian dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous."

Adding further information to the research, the scientist described how they found the fragments of the largest eggshell. It appeared in the sedimentary rocks of the "Tremp Formation'' which outcrops in the sector of the Pyrenees, a mountain range located on the border of France and Spain.

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The researchers stated that the most recent dates of the outcrops were within the last 250,000 years of the Mesozoic era between the Jurassic and Tertiary periods, a time before the meteorite impact against the blue planet and the dinosaur's extinction.

Claiming The Thickest Eggshell Title

According to them, the newly discovered species has been named Pachykrokolithus excavatum. In their research output, the Historical Biology, the scientists compared the remains to "other crocodile egg shells, both current and fossil from other areas of the world, such as Portugal or the United States."

From that comparison, they were able to confirm that their recent discovery of the Pachykrokolithus excavatum eggshells is the "thickest crocodile eggshells that exist in the fossil record."

The recent study was published under the title "A new crocodylomorph related ootaxon from the late Maastrichtian of the Southern Pyrenees (Huesca, Spain)" the collaboration study was authored by Miguel Moreno-Azanza, Manuel Perez-Pueyo, Eduardo Puertolas-Pascual, Carmen Nunez-Lahuerta, Octavio Mateus, Blanca Bauluz, Beatriz Badenas, and Jose Ignacio Canudo.

In the research abstract, the scientists gave a brief explanation of the related classification of the eggshells and its components. They also differed the fragments from the older fossils recovered earlier before their discovery.

The study was funded by the European Union under a program called: "NextGenerationEU: Requalification of the Spanish university system for 2021-2023," and supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education.