Jorgo Ristevski, a Ph.D. candidate in the Faculty of Science, used micro-CT scanning to produce the most in-depth analysis of the skull anatomy of an extinct crocodile from Australia. He claimed they could digitally isolate each bone and had a beautifully preserved cranium. The research was published in the Anatomical Record.
Fossil Sandstone Ancient Crocodile
Ancient Tiny Crocodiles in Australia
Northwest Queensland was once home to an uncommon and very small crocodile species about 13.5 million years ago. Modern technology has enabled University of Queensland researchers to uncover previously hidden anatomical information about the prehistoric species called Trilophosuchus rackhami.
As an adult, Trilophosuchus rackhami would have been between 70 and 90 cm in length and weighed one to two kilos, which is quite small compared to most modern crocodiles, according to Ristevski. He continued; it had a small snout and three prominent ridges on the top of its skull, making it a crocodile with a truly distinctive appearance.
Trilophosuchus rackhami
Trilophosuchus rackhami, also known as the "Rackham's three-crested croc," was given that name in 1993 in recognition of Alan Rackham, who currently oversees the Riversleigh Fossil Discovery Center near Mt Isa.
According to the Australian Museum, it is a little mekosuchine crocodile that lived in northern Australia during the early Miocene. It possessed three longitudinal ridges along its skull, a small, deep head, and big eyes. It may have lived on the land as opposed to in the water. The alveoli of the largest to the smallest tooth in mekosuchines differ greatly in size from those of other crocodiles.
According to Ristevski, he digitally recreated the Trilophosuchus rackhami brain cavity for one of the investigations and discovered that it matches the brain cavities of several distantly related and maybe extinct terrestrial crocodiles from Africa and South America.
Trilophosuchus rackhami more closely connected to modern crocodiles, evolutionary speaking, he continued. This would suggest that Trilophosuchus rackhami spent more time on land than most crocodiles alive today. Future research on the evolutionary links of extinct crocodiles will be able to benefit from the findings.
It was undoubtedly one of the cutest prehistoric crocodiles, according to Associate Professor Steve Salisbury, who noted that Australia had an astonishing variety of them up until fairly recently.
According to the researcher, if you could go back to north Queensland 13 million years ago, you would need to be careful not to walk on crocodiles in the forest and at the water's edge.
Ancient Crocodile in Australia
In a report in USA Today, a species of crocodile was found in Australia, and scientists later learned that it had consumed a dinosaur as its last meal. The crocodilian fossils were originally discovered in 2010 close to the Winton Formation in eastern Australia, a rock bed from the Cretaceous era when most known dinosaurs roamed the planet.
Although some crocodile fossils were partially broken, researchers found numerous tiny bones from different animals inside the remains. At the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum, scientists have determined that those smaller bones belonged to a dinosaur.
RELATED ARTICLE: Dinosaur 'Ollie' From Outback Queensland Site Confirmed as Australia's Tiniest Sauropod
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