Ancient Giant 'Ghost' Crocodile With T-Rex-Sized Teeth Discovered in Madagascar

Ancient giant crocodile
Paleoartistic restoration of the head of Razanandrongobe sakalavae. Fabio Manucci

Scientists have discovered an ancient, giant, crocodile-like creature in Madagascar that had T-Rex-sized teeth it used for crunching bones,. The discovery helps to fill in the evolutionary gaps of a 74 million year long crocodilian "ghost lineage."

Researchers first discovered fossils of a giant predator on the island over a decade ago. At the time, scientists believed they had discovered a large predator from the Jurassic period and they named the creature Razanandrongobe sakalavae, meaning "giant lizard ancestor from Sakalava region."

However, while scientists knew they had discovered a new, ancient predatory species, where it sat in the evolutionary tree of life remained unclear—it shared features of crocodylomorphs, a group that includes crocodilians and their extinct relatives, and theropods, the group of dinosaurs to which T-Rex belongs.

Now, scientists from France and Italy have re-examined the fossils, along with five cranial fragments that were found at the same site, which they "tentatively" refer to as coming from the same taxon.

Their findings, published in the journal PeerJ, place the fossils in the suborder Notosuchia. These crocodylomorphs lived during the Cretaceous period and researchers have found fossils in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America.

Reconstruction of the jaws of a giant ancient crocodile
Reconstruction of the jaws of Razanandrongobe sakalavae. Giovanni Bindellini

However, scientists believed Notosuchia's evolutionary lineage started far earlier, during the Middle Jurassic, between 174 to 163 million years ago. But because there was no fossil evidence of it, it was known as a ghost lineage.

Cristiano Dal Sasso, from the Natural History Museum of Milan, Italy, and colleagues have now placed R. sakalavae in the Nortosuchia family tree, calling it the oldest and potentially largest of the suborder ever discovered. It predates other Nortosuchias by 42 million years.

While the scientists are tentative in estimating its exact size due to limited fossil evidence, they say it was likely bigger than Sarcosuchus imperator, which could reach up to 39ft in length, and Purussaurus brasilensis, which was around 34ft long.

Giant ancient croc compared to a human
Comparison between the estimated body size of Razanandrongobe sakalavae and a human. Marco Auditore

"Like these and other gigantic crocs from the Cretaceous, 'Razana' could outcompete even theropod dinosaurs, at the top of the food chain", Dal Sasso said in a statement.

The team says the size of R. sakalavae's teeth indicate it fed on hard tissues, such as bone, and that it would have been one of the top land predators in the area at the time—the point at which Madagascar began to separate from the supercontinent Gondwana.

Study co-author Simone Maganuco said: "Its geographic position during the period when Madagascar was separating from other landmasses is strongly suggestive of an endemic lineage. At the same time, it represents a further signal that the Notosuchia originated in southern Gondwana."

Giant ancient crocodile artist's impression
Paleoartistic restoration of Razanandrongobe sakalavae scavenging on a sauropod carcass in the Middle Jurassic of Madagascar. Fabio Manucci

Concluding, the team writes that their analysis shows R. sakalavae is a "valid species well-distinct from any other currently known member of Notosuchia."

"It contributes to filling in a gap in the group's evolution, which contains a long ghost lineage in the Jurassic," they continue. "It documents a dramatic, somewhat unexpected, size increase in the early history of the group."

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About the writer


Hannah Osborne is Nesweek's Science Editor, based in London, UK. Hannah joined Newsweek in 2017 from IBTimes UK. She is ... Read more

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