Laopteryx Laopteryx Laopteryx is the name assigned to a pterosaur (flying reptile) from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming, United States; it was originally thought to be a bird. The genus was named in 1881 by Othniel Charles Marsh. The generic name is derived from Greek "laas", "stone", and "pteryx", "wing". The full species name given by Marsh was "Laopteryx priscum"; the specific name meaning "of venerable age" in Latin. However, Marsh incorrectly used the neuter form, while "pteryx" is feminine in Greek. (See grammatical gender.) This was in the 19th century emended to an, also incorrect, masculine "priscus" and
Reptile egg fossil actually an egg with a leathery shell. If the contentious fossil really is a reptile egg, it's the oldest known. The earliest known fossil rigid eggs were laid by South African crocodilians during the Late Triassic or Early Jurassic; however, the rigid eggshell itself was probably much older than these specific fossils. The oldest known fossil crocodilian eggs are from Early Cretaceous rocks of Galve, Spain. These eggs had microstructures identical to those of modern crocodiles. This suggests that once the crocodilian's rigid eggshell first evolved it changed very little over time. Crocodilian eggshell is regarded as primitive because it