Ancient ’Ghost Crocodile’ Fossil Discovered in Morocco and UK, Reveals Jurassic Predator

A Jurassic thalattosaurian measuring about 2 meters and having short limbs and a long, strong tail. This discovery made in Morocco by international researchers has been published in the Journal of African Earth Sciences. According to them, it is a ghost ancestor of the ancient marine predators whose long, slender snout resembles that of modern crocodiles, with hypertrophied jaw muscles that probably allowed it to seize fish, octopus or squid with impressive speed and force, reports Science alert. In the United Kingdom, researchers have discovered one of the most complete skeletons of a thalattosaurian named Turnersuchus hingleyae, also an older species dating back about 185 million years. This discovery has been published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

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Comparing the morphology of the fossil to that of other ancient crocodilians and thalattosaurians, archaeologists estimate that the ancestors of the thalattosaurians appeared about 200 million years ago, towards the end of the Triassic era. "I expect we will continue to find more ancient thalattosaurians and their close relatives," says vertebrate paleontologist Eric Wilberg of Stony Brook University in New York. "Our analyses suggest that thalattosaurians probably first appeared in the Triassic and survived the end-Triassic mass extinction," he added. Information confirmed by the research conducted on the other thalattosaurian fossil recently discovered in Morocco.