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A demon of a reptile , a 30 - understructure - long crocodile ascendent , once voyage the lagune of the Tataouine region of southern Tunisia 130 million years ago .
Found on the fringes of the Sahara — near an area that serve asStar Wars ' Tatooine , and inspired its name — fossils suggestMachimosaurus rexwas the bombastic marine crocodile ever discover and represents a new species of teleosaurid — a type of extinct crocodylomorph , or a group that include crocodiles and their ascendent .
The excavation site of the first specimen of the new crocodilelike species,Machimosaurus rexon the edge of the Sahara Desert.
In December 2014 , a multinational palaeontological team was two days away from the end of an expedition when they came upon what appear to be a jumble of crushed , isolated bone . Further mining divulge something much greater . [ See Images of the Extinct Monster Crocodile Ancestor ]
" At one point , when one eye of the crocodile was completely exhibit , we realise there was an entire , elephantine skull just under our feet , " aver excavation team member Andrea Cau , a doctoral student at the Biological , Geological and Environmental Department of Alma Mater Studiorum in Bologna University , in an electronic mail audience with Live Science . In the hour that followed , they became certain they were laying eyes on a previously unsung coinage .
M. rexwas found lie on its stomach with its head wobble toward the right side of its organic structure . The skeletal frame consists of most of the skull with three teeth in place and seven others unattached and scattered around the honker . Part of the back , near the head , and the ribcage were also present . These remains were surrounded by an copiousness of dodo from fish , invertebrates ( such as gastropods and bivalves ) and other grounds of a salty water environment . fossil from a with child polo-neck were also collected in association withM. rex , but the location of these suggests they were deposit at a later time .
The crocodile ancestor M. rex would have been fearsome-looking, swimming through the salty lagoons of prehistoric Tunisia.
The study ’s authors believeM. rexwas likely an ambush piranha with the tooth of a generalised huntsman and a bite strong enough to crush through turtle shell .
" In doctrine of analogy with mod crocs that ordinarily attack zebras and wildebeest , it is plausible thatM. rexwas also capable to kill mid - sized dinosaur , " Cau said . Thismassive reptilecould walk on land but probably spent most of its time in the ocean or lagune .
Geologic data point gather up by the squad in this area since 2009 show thatM. rexlived inthe early Cretaceous period . This name it the most recent representative of the teleosaurids , which were previously believed to have gone extinct at the oddment ofthe Jurassic period(ending about 150 million years ago ) . It was think teleosaurids had disappeared as part of a global mass extinction outcome that occur at the boundary of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods . The authors of this study say thatM. rexadds to evidence disproving this mass extinguishing , paint a picture instead that what hap was a serial of local defunctness events .
The subject is published in the Jan. 10 issue of the journalCretaceous Research .
