New species of fearsome crocodile-like creature named ‘turnersuchus’

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New species of fearsome crocodile-like creature named ‘turnersuchus’

Scientists have identified a new genus of fearsome crocodile-like creatures that once hunted off what is now Dorset's Jurassic Coast.

The remains of the 2 metre-long animal were discovered by fossil hunters after a series of landslips on a beach in 2017 and the newly recognized beast has been named Turnersuchus hingleyae in honor of the finders, Paul Turner and Lizzie Hingley.

The new research will lead to a rise in visitor numbers who will come face to face with the crocodile as it is known in Dorset and is on display at Lyme Regis Museum.

Although it would have looked like a crocodile and is colloquially known as a marine crocodile, the animal is a type of thalattosuchian, often described as a sister species to modern crocodiles ancestors, and would have been at large in the early Jurassic period.

Paul Davis, a geology curator at Lyme Regis Museum, said the original discovery and the pinpointing of its origins were thrilling. It is very exciting that they have named a new species of marine crocodile. It's so special for us. Davis said there were some good remains of more modern versions of the animal and a few older ones, but none from the age of the specimen found in Dorset.

Turnersuchus hingleyae would have looked similar to modern gharial crocodiles, found in major river systems in the north of India due to its relatively long, slender snout. The region of the skull that housed jaw muscles was particularly large, possibly suggesting the ability to take fast bites, meaning it could grab fast-moving fish, octopus or squid.

Hingley and Turner were delighted that what they found out to be so special. We didn't expect to find anything so rare, so I think it's fantastic. She said it was unbelievable that it turned out to be something that nobody had found before.

It was a hot May day when they made the find. Paul found the first block and said there was bone everywhere on this. We chucked it in a bag and carried on. She put it on a fossil collectors Facebook page. I was messaging the Natural History Museum within 10 minutes. Hingley and Turner, helped by a representative from Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre, visited the site every day for weeks to make sure that they recovered every possible piece as it was washed out of a landslip before it could be destroyed by the sea. Body parts, including the head, backbone and limbs, were found.

Other local people came forward once the finds had been made to reveal they had parts of the crocodile, and these have been collected with those found by Hingley and Turner.

The findings are described in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.