The Evolutionary Biology group of the University of Distance Education (UNED) has discovered in the Lo Hueco site in Cuenca (Spain), the fossil remains (more than a dozen complete skulls) of a new species of crocodile possessing some huge teeth that inhabited Europe during the Cretaceous. The finding has been published in the journal PloS One.
It has been baptized as Lohuecosuchus megadontos and according to the researchers, it had amphibious habits, they were good swimmers although they also walked out of the water and its body was covered by a reinforced dermal armor formed by several rows of bones integrated into its already thick skin.
Despite their similarities to other crocodiles, this crocodile’s teeth are undoubtedly the largest that have been seen in groups close to these reptiles : “The disproportionately large teeth cause its jaw to project laterally and downwards in a very characteristic way. ”, Explains Francisco Ortega, co-author of the study to Sinc.
Thus, Lohuecosuchus megadontos belongs to the extinct group of alodaposúquids that lived more than 66 million years ago in Europe and is the closest relative of the group formed by all current crocodiles whose lineage dates back to 230 million years ago.
The Lo Hueco site was once a coastal wetland and thanks to this discovery and the analysis of the multiple skulls, researchers have been able to find characteristic differences with the genus Allodaposuchus , since until now all the remains of Western Europe (France and Spain) that appeared to be primitive modern crocodiles had been integrated as Allodaposuchus . Now we know that “they are related forms and both belong to the alodaposuquids “, clarifies Ortega.
Image Credit: Javi Godoy
