Patagonian Titanosaur egg with fossil embreyo

You may have read about this in publications such as National Geographic or Natural History or seen it on TV. In 1997 in Patagonia, Argentina at a site now called Auca Mahuevo, paleontologists discovered thousands of clusters of eggs of a sauropod with remarkable preservation. They were so well preserved that entire embreyo skeletons with sections of fossilized skin were found in some eggs, giving more insight into the life cycle of sauropods than ever before, as well as a rare look into the skin patterns of dinosaurs.

This is one such egg. It is a partial titanosaur egg, with a small section of skin as well as a couple bones exposed, along with the egg shell and sub-shell membrane. I've also been told that the skin on my specimen is different than the skin found in most of the eggs, which may mean it is a different species of sauropod or perhaps a different section of skin. The entire fragment is about 3 inches long.

About this specimen

This is a fossil titanosaur egg (undescribed Sauropod) from the Late Cretaceous, Rio Colorado formation, Auca Mahuevo, Patagonia, Argentina.

closeup of skincloseup of the bones

(above, left) A close-up of the skin section. It was made as an impression in the fossilized sub-shell membrane. (above, right) A close-up of the two confirmed areas of bone. The first section is in the upper left corner of the picture angled down and to the right. The second is in the right-center of the picture and appears as two straight lines at a small angle to each other. (below) The full egg fragment. The skin section is on the bottom in the center. The pieces of bone are in the center-right and upper left of the egg.

My Patagonian dino egg

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