Scientists confirm the egg fossils of Canglong "ocean overlord"

　　Xinhua News Agency, Santiago, June 21 (Reporter Yin Nan and Zhang Xiaoran) A study jointly conducted by Chilean and American scientists and published in the British "Nature" magazine recently confirmed that a fossil discovered in Antarctica in 2011 was a Cretaceous "ocean" Overlord" Canglong's egg fossil.

　　David Rouviral, a paleontologist at the Chilean National Museum of Natural History who participated in the research, told Xinhua News Agency that he and the paleontologist Rodrigo Otero of the University of Chile participated in the scientific research organized by the Chilean Antarctic Institute in 2011. During the test, the fossil was found on Seymour Island, Antarctica.

　　According to Ruvilal, the oval fossil looks smooth, "like a deflated football." At that time, the researchers did not understand its origin, so it was kept in the Chilean National Museum of Natural History for a long time. Whenever he met a visiting geologist or paleontologist, he would always ask if he knew the origin of this fossil.

　　In 2018, paleontologist Julia Clark of the University of Texas at Austin who visited the museum pointed out that this may be a squashed soft-shell egg. Rouviral said that researchers had speculated that this was fossilized eggs of crocodiles, turtles, etc., but their eggs were usually hard shells, while reptiles such as lizards and snakes mostly produced soft shell eggs.

　　Observed through an electron microscope, the researchers believe that this should be the egg fossil of the Canglong, 68 million years ago. It is estimated that the original egg weighed about 6.5 kg and was about 29 cm long, second only to the extinct elephant bird. egg. Canglong is a large carnivorous marine ancient reptile, known as the "ocean overlord" in the Cretaceous period, and is closely related to today's lizards.

　　Rouviral said that usually only hard-shelled eggs can be preserved as fossils, while soft-shelled eggs are easily decomposed, so this fossil is very rare. Through its research, you can further understand the reproduction method of large mesozoic marine reptiles.