Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin (USA) have identified a mysterious fossil, like a deflated ball and found back in 2011, Chilean scientists in Antarctica. It turned out that this egg, postponed many millions of years ago, a giant marine reptile.
a study published in the journal Nature, and briefly about it it is reported on the website of the University. Mysterious fossil now, almost 10 years held in the collections of the National Museum of natural history of Chile. All this time scientists could not identify. The fossil resembles a deflated soccer ball.
And only now the analysis carried out by researchers from the University of Texas at Austin, has allowed him to identify. It turned out that the fossil is a giant egg with a soft shell. Its age is estimated at approximately 66 million years.
by the Way, this is the first such discovery made in Antarctica. The dimensions of this egg are 18х28 inches. This makes it the largest fossil egg with a soft shell ever discovered and the second largest of all known science.
Scientists have suggested that this egg was delayed giant marine reptile – mesosaurus. This casts doubt on the prevailing theory that mosasaurs eggs postponed.
“It was definitely an animal the size of a large dinosaur, but this egg does not like a dinosaur egg, says lead author Lucas Legendre. It is most similar to the eggs of lizards and snakes, but their cousin really was a giant”.
For the study, researchers used a set of microscopes. This allowed to detect several layers of membrane, which confirmed that the fossil was indeed an egg. By the way, it was empty – apparently, the baby hatched out of it.
to identify the parent, the researchers compared the body sizes 259 living reptiles with their eggs. So they calculated the typical proportion. Next, they studied the catalog of extinct creatures that were the right fit. The ideal candidate in this respect was mosasaur.
in addition, in the same rock where it was found the egg, scientists have found skeletons of children and adults mosasaurs and plesiosaurs. According to Legendre, perhaps this place was used reptiles as a kind of kindergarten. It was probably small and well protected Bay where young reptiles could grow.
The article does not discuss how the mosasaurs could lay eggs. But there are two competing theories. The first is that everything was happening under water. This is where, for example, some species of sea snakes. Another theory is that the ancient monsters could crawl onto land and lay eggs on the beach, as it is doing today sea turtles.
