Paleontologists from the University of Zaragoza, in Spain, have found a new species of crocodile, which coexisted with the last dinosaurs from the past and laid the thickest eggs ever known, according to a report in Newsweek.
These crocodile's eggshells were found in the Ribagorza region of the Huesca province in northeastern Spain by the paleontologists who were working at the NOVA University Lisbon and the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution, the outlet further said.
The study was published on July 21 in the peer-reviewed academic journal Historical Biology, and the university released a statement regarding the discovery on Wednesday.
Historical Biology is an international peer-reviewed publication that publishes original research and review articles on advancements in the sciences related to the biology of extinct species and the history of life across geological time.
In the study, the researchers have described the detailed process of locating more than 300 eggshell fragments found near Biascas de Obarra in the Huesca municipality of Beranuy.
University of Zaragoza told Zenger News in a statement, "The fragments found correspond to the thickest crocodile shells that have been found in the fossil record worldwide. Its discovery increases the paleontological wealth of the Ribagorza region and reaffirms its importance worldwide to study the end of the Cretaceous extinction."
According to the experts, the eggshells trace its origins to the Upper Cretaceous era, and the "fragments were part of the eggs laid by crocodiles that lived with the last Iberian dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous," Newsweek further said.
