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An ancient marine crocodile was discovered in the United Kingdom.

Fossil of New Marine Crocodile Unearthed on The Jurassic Coast

A new study discovered a new thalattosuchian, considered an ancient sister of modern-day crocodile ancestors. The fossil of Turnersuchus hingleyae was unearthed on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, United Kingdom. It includes a section of its head, backbone, and limbs, EurekAlert! reported.

The finding was considered impressive as it was the only one complete enough thalattosuchian of its age. According to Mindat.org, Thalattosuchia refers to a group of marine crocodylomorphs from the Early Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous, about 185 million years ago, with a cosmopolitan distribution. They are colloquially referred to as marine crocodiles or sea crocodiles. However, they are not members of the Crocodilia group.

Dr. Eric Wilberg, Assistant Professor at the Department of Anatomical Sciences at Stony Brook University and co-author of the study, said they expect to find more thalattosuchians of the same age as Turnersuchus or older.

He added that when their paper was published, another study described a thalattosuchian skull unearthed in the roof of a cave in Morocco from the Hettangian/Sinemurian. He believed that they would find older thalattosuchians.

He also pointed out that the analysis suggests that thalattosuchians first appeared in the Triassic and survived the end-Triassic mass extinction.

Ghost Lineage in Thalattosuchians

The experts said that the discovery of Turnersuchus filled a gap in the fossil record, suggesting that thalattosuchians should have originated around the end of the Triassic period, which is 15 million years further back in the time when Turnersuchus lived.

The outlet added that there are no traces of thalattosuchians in Triassic rock, suggesting that there is a ghost lineage.

According to UCMP Berkeley, ghost lineages refer to an unbroken chain of ancestors and descendants, as there are no traces in the fossil record,

The ghost lineage extended from the end of the Triassic until the Toarcian in the Jurrasic. However, following the discovery of Turnersuchus, the ghost lineage has been reduced by a few million years.

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What Are Thalattosuchians?

Thalattosuchians are called marine crocodiles or sea crocodiles despite not being a member of Crocodylia. Some of them are very well adapted to life in the oceans. They have short limbs modified into flippers, a shark-like tail fin, salt glands, and the ability to give birth instead of laying eggs.

Co-author Dr. Pedro Godoy from the University of São Paulo in Brazil said that, unlike crocodiles, Thalattosuchians are approximately 2 meters long and live purely in coastal marine habitats. Also, their skulls look similar to modern gharials. He noted that they were constructed differently.

Thalattosuchians had a large supratemporal fenestrae, a region of the skull ho using jaw muscles. They also have enlarged jaw muscles enabling faster bites because most of their prey were fast-moving, like fish or cephalopods.

The researchers believed that just like the modern-day crocodiles, the supratemporal region of Turnersuchus had a thermoregulatory function - to help buffer brain temperature.

The name Turner'suchus 'hingley'ae originated from Paul Turner and Lizzie Hingley's names, who discovered the specimen in 2017 and donated it to Lyme Regis Museum. The ending "suchus" is the Latin form of the "soukhos," Greek for crocodile.

The specimen is currently on display at the Lyme Regis Museum in Lyme Regis, Dorset, England.

The study was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

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