Eocene Fossil Crocodile Egg & Snake Egg - Bouxwiller, France

This is an unusual fossil association featuring a 1.9" Eocene-aged fossil crocodile egg and a .7" snake egg from Bouxwiller, in the Alsace region of northastern France. These were 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.

Comes with an acrylic display stand.

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. The snake egg is classified as Ophidenovum, a genus parallel to Linnean taxonomy but reserved only for eggs. In this case, Ophidenovum translates from Latin to literally "of snakes (Ophid-)" and "egg (-ovum)".