Lower Cretaceous sediments from an unexplored area of Tunisia have yield the fossilized cadaver of a 10 - meter - long marine crocodile – the big ocean - dwelling croc ever fall upon . investigator name the novel extinct speciesMachimosaurus rex , and it ’s described inCretaceous Researchthis workweek .
The articulated remains of the giant crocodylomorph were excavate in December of 2014 during a prospect stumble at the Touil el Mhahir locality of Tataouine Governorate in southerly Tunisia . The body was lying belly down with the fountainhead arc to the veracious side . After class through the flaxen and clayish sediments , Federico Fantiof Università di Bologna and confrere were able-bodied to identify skull fragment , teeth , vertebra , ribs , a partial humerus , and osteoderms ( the bony plate in the skin ) of a never - before - seen species .
Its skull alone was up to 1.55 metre ( 5 feet ) long – establish it an forecast dead body distance of at least 9.6 meters ( 31.5 feet ) . The squad name the specie after the Latin word for “ king , ” a cite to its majestic size . Two views of the skull are pictured to the rightfulness .
M. rexbelongs to a lineage called the thalattosuchian teleosaurids , marine crocodylomorphs that were thought to have go extinct at the last of the Jurassic , before the Cretaceous . But at about 120 million to 130 million years old , M. rexis grounds that teleosauroids crossed the Jurassic - Cretaceous limit .
This giant croc was probable an lying in wait predator in a laguna - like environment that characterized this part of Africa during the early Cretaceous . Its ecology would have been similar to today ’s semi - aquatic crocodilians that hunting both aquatic and terrene prey . Short , rounded teeth , like those of other members of theMachimosaurusgenus , indicate that it fed on hard - shelled craniate .
loads of turtle remain , including some that were a metre long , were also found in the same quarry – suggesting that turtles made up a large part of theM. rexdiet . Additionally , Machimosaurusbite marks have previously been find on a sauropod dinosaur bone .
For comparing , the biggest freshwater “ super croc , ” calledSarcosuchus imperator , lived 110 million geezerhood ago , and it grew up to 12 time ( 39 feet ) long .
trope in the school text : F. Fanti et al . , 2016 Cretaceous Research
