2.05" Eocene Fossil Crocodile Egg - Bouxwiller, France

This is an unusual fossil: a 02.05" Eocene-aged fossil crocodile egg from Bouxwiller, in the Alsace region of northastern France. It was laid on the bank of a lake during the Eocene period, about 48 to 40 million years ago. The rock formation was exposed in a now abandoned quarry in 1983, and over 44 vertebrate species have been described since then.

Eggs are generally difficult to trace to a single species, so this egg is classified as Crocodilenovum, a genus parallel to Linnean taxonomy but reserved only for eggs. In this case, Crocodilenovum translates from Latin to literally "of crocodiles (Crocodil-)" and "egg (-ovum)". However, it likely came from one of two known species of this quarry, the genus Allognathosuchus or the species Pristichampus rollinati.