'Super-Croc' Fossil Discovered (Again) in Museum Drawer

Have you ever forgotten where you put your keys? How about where you put the remains of that giant dolphin-shaped crocodilian "super-predator"? They might not be as hard to lose as you think. The long-forgotten remains of this ancient beast have been discovered in a museum drawer in Scotland.

The newfound crocodilian, named Tyrannoneustes lythrodectikos (which means "blood-biting tyrant swimmer"), was a dolphin-like crocodile that lived 165 million years ago. It had a long snout, large flippers, armorless skin and a tail fin where the bottom half is larger than the top half--think of an upside down version of a shark's tail fin. Scientists are unsure exactly how large the beast was, but the right side of its lower jaw was at least 26 inches long.

This massive crocodilian was a super-predator, which means it evolved to devour prey around its own size and larger. It possessed a large jaw that allowed it to open wider than normal and teeth with serrated edges. These features could be used to swallow smaller prey whole, or slice larger prey up into smaller bites.

The remains were discovered more than a century ago in a clay pit by fossil hunter Alfred Leeds in an area in central England. Millions of years ago, the area was covered in a shallow sea that encompassed much of what is now Europe. In addition, it was far warmer with sea-surface temperatures ranging from 68 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit.  The area where the "super croc" was found in hosted other marine reptiles, such as pliosaurs and the dolphin-shaped ichthyosaurs.

Since then, the fossils have lain in a drawer in the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery in Scotland--at least until now. Mark Young and his colleagues unearthed the fossils from their dust to study them more thoroughly. It is only now that they were able to confirm the actual identity of the remains. In the future, the researchers plan to develop computer models to see how this ancient reptile may have fed.

The findings are detailed online in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. To see a drawing of what this ancient reptile may have looked like, click here.