Ancient crocodile-like fossil sheds light on pre-Jurassic earth

What’s up, croc?

Scientists have discovered an ancient species known to be the “sister” of modern-day crocodiles, according to a new study.

The pre-historic predator, Turnersuchus hingleyae, was found incredibly preserved off the Jurassic Coast of Dorset, England. The fossil is the most complete of the “marine crocodiles” to be recovered from 185 million years ago during the Pliensbachian period.

It was a two-meter long, highly aggressive predator that swam the coasts snacking on fish or cephalopods at a time before dinosaurs ruled the animal kingdom.

The fossil’s remarkable state is also helping scientists to learn more about the other pre-historic marine species of thalattosuchia — an extinct genus resembling modern day crocodiles — that existed millions of years ago. Researchers anticipate finding more crocodile-like species and learning more about their pre-dino existence.

“I expect we will continue to find more older thalattosuchians and their relatives. Our analyses suggest that thalattosuchians likely first appeared in the Triassic and survived the end-Triassic mass extinction,” said co-author Dr. Eric Wilberg, Assistant Professor at the Department of Anatomical Sciences at Stony Brook University.

It was that extinction event that led to the Jurassic Age of dinosaurs first roaming and ruling the Earth prior to their own elimination and ice age.

Turnersuchus is quite a specimen for another reason. Scientists are analyzing its traits, which are surprisingly disconnected from today’s crocodiles.

Unlike the modern reptile, which lives in wetlands near all sorts of water bodies, the long-snouted Turnersuchus “lived purely in coastal marine habitats,” said co-author Dr. Pedro Godoy, from the University of São Paulo in Brazil.

He added that the Turnersuchus skulls are also different from crocodiles. They — along with other thalattosuchia — boasted enlarged jaw muscles that enabled fast bites of prey.

Still, researchers believe it is possible that Turnersuchus shares a “thermoregulatory function,” which helps to control brain temperature, with modern crocodiles.

Many questions still remain regarding the ancient croc-like creature’s days on early Earth.

There exists a “ghost lineage” of time periods — ranging from the end of the Triassic until the Toarcian period within the Jurassic — where thalattosuchians have not been found in ancient rocks, according to the research.

“But now we can reduce the ghost lineage by a few million years,” the team stated upon their big dig.