Paleontologists uncover dinosaur-era crocodile in Patagonia

Aug. 29 (UPI) — An interdisciplinary workforce of specialists from Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council, or CONICET, found many of the skeleton — together with the cranium and jaws — of a big hypercarnivorous crocodile that lived in southern Argentina about 70 million years in the past in the course of the Late Cretaceous interval.

Hypercarnivorous animals are these whose eating regimen consists of greater than 70% meat, and that embrace eagles, vultures, toothed whales, spiders and scorpions.

The discovery website, described Wednesday within the scientific journal PLOS One, is located about 19 miles south of the city of El Calafate in Patagonia.

Researchers named the brand new species Kostensuchus atrox, combining “Kosten” — the Aonikenk/Tehuelche phrase for Patagonian wind — and “suchus” — from the Greek Souchos, the crocodile-headed Egyptian god.

“This new species is distinguished from all previously known species by traits such as the large size of its teeth and skull, the robustness of its jaw and the large cavities that housed the muscles responsible for its bite. These traits lead us to interpret it as a top predator in the ecosystem,” said Diego Pol, a CONICET researcher on the Bernardino Rivadavia Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences.

The animal was not a dinosaur, although it was a predator. It belongs to an extinct household of crocodiles often called peirosaurs, which advanced in South America and Africa in the course of the Cretaceous Period.

Kostensuchus lived in humid, lush environments. It had a strong physique and quick legs positioned vertically beneath its torso, which made it extra agile than fashionable caimans and crocodiles.

Its head measured about 20 inches — massive for its total dimension, incomes it the nickname the “bulldog” of crocodiles — and its snout carried greater than 50 enamel, some longer than 2 inches, with serrated edges for reducing flesh. Its jaws, powered by sturdy muscle mass, delivered a fast and very highly effective chunk.

“Another predator we discovered in these rocks is the dinosaur Maip macrothorax – a carnivorous predator that was among the last dinosaurs before extinction and a close relative of the Megaraptor from Neuquén. It is very likely that Kostensuchus and Maip competed for food, similar to the clashes that occur today in Africa between hyenas and lions,” mentioned paleontologist Fernando Novas, a CONICET researcher on the Félix de Azara Natural History Foundation and lead writer of the research.

The research expands the recognized variety of vertebrates in Patagonia and marks the southernmost document of peirosaurids. It additionally reinforces proof that, towards the tip of the Cretaceous, a lineage of huge, strong animals lived in each South America and Madagascar.

The mission concerned researchers from Argentina, Brazil and Japan, with help from National Geographic and Brazilian science businesses — the Carlos Chagas Filho Foundation for Research Support within the State of Rio de Janeiro and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development.

CONICET mentioned the invention is a key piece in reconstructing the Patagonian ecosystem earlier than the tip of the dinosaur period.