Before the age of the dinosaurs began, fearsome predators already walked the earth. Although they are more unknown and do not star in movie sagas, some of these creatures are as spectacular and fascinating as the most famous dinosaurs. On this occasion, we are talking about a prehistoric “monster” that could well be the protagonist of a horror movie.
A Triassic apex predator
Mambawakale Ruhuhu means “ancient crocodile” in Swahili. It was 5 meters long, with a jaw of more than 60 centimeters, which sheltered large curved saw-shaped teeth capable of tearing apart any prey of the moment. Due to its size and characteristics, it must have been a top predator in its territory at the time: present-day Tanzania 240 million years ago .
“It had a large, powerful head with a muscular body with a barrel-shaped thorax, upright posture, and a long tail that enabled it to attack any prey in its path.”
Fossil remains ignored until now
It was discovered in 1963 by a group of researchers from various African and European institutions. The local population played a fundamental role in the expedition , Tanzanians who knew the terrain and guided the paleontologists to the fossil remains. We do not know the name of the person who first discovered this species, but we do know that it was a local inhabitant who found the fossil in the Manda Beds formation, a site in southwestern Tanzania with remains between 247 and 242 million years old. of antiquity. The species name is intended as a tribute to the local people who helped discover it.
At first, despite the spectacular nature of the remains found, the discovery was not taken into account. Palaeontologists at the Natural History Museum in London named the remains as a new species: Pallisteria angustimentum , but the description fell short and was never published.
Until February 2022, when a team led by Richard J. Butler, from the University of Birmingham, has published the description of this new species in the journal “The Royal Society Open Science”.
ancestor of crocodiles
The remains found from Mambawake Ruhuhu belong to the only specimen known to us to date. We have part of the skull, the lower jaw and fragments of the postcranium such as three anterior cervical vertebrae and an almost complete left hand. The team performed a CT scan to recreate this Middle Triassic predator.
Their study furthers our knowledge of early archosaurs and other predators from the time when the ancestors of the dinosaurs began to emerge .
“Our analysis identifies Mambawakale as one of the oldest known archosaurs and one of the earliest members of the lineage that eventually evolved into modern crocodilians. It’s an exciting discovery, because identifying this animal helps us understand the rapid early diversification of archosaurs and allows us to add one more link to the evolutionary history of modern-day crocodilians.”
References:
Butler, RJ et al. 2022. A new pseudosuchian archosaur, Mambawakale ruhuhu gen. et sp. nov., from the Middle Triassic Manda Beds of Tanzania. Royal Society Open Science 9, 2, 211622. DOI: 10.1098/rsos.211622.
The confidential. 2022. They discover an ancestor of the crocodile that inhabited Tanzania 240 million years ago. elconfidencial.com.
