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Abnormalities in the histo- and ultrastructure of the amniote eggshell are often related to diverse factors, such as ambient stress during egg formation, pathologies altering the physiology of the egg-laying females, or evolutionarily selected modifications of the eggshell structure that vary the physical properties of the egg, for example increasing its strength so as to avoid fracture during incubation. When dealing with fossil materials, all the above hypotheses are plausible, but a detailed taphonomical study has to be performed to rule out the possibility that secondary processes of recrystallization have occurred during fossilization.
The combination of light and scanning electron microscope can show the alteration of fossil eggshell better.