While undertaking a systematic paleontological excavation in the Favret Formation of Nevada, scientists stumbled upon a completely new species of extinct crocodile relative which dates back to the Middle Triassic period.
The new species namely Benggwigwishingasuchus eremicarminis is an ancient crocodile that lived alongside the giant ichthyosaurs, which ruled the oceans nearly 247.2 and 237 million years ago.
Shocking discovery of coastal dinosaur species
According to the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County, discovering the fossil of new species came as a “bit of a shock” to the scientists.
This is because the excavation area is known for fossils of sea-going creatures such as ammonites and marine reptiles like the giant ichthyosaur C. youngorum.
Dr. Nate Smith, lead author of the paper, and Gretchen Augustyn Director and Curator of the Dinosaur Institute at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County stated:
“This exciting new species demonstrates that pseudosuchians were occupying coastal habitats on a global basis during the Middle Triassic.”
The pseudosuchian archosaur, a terrestrial animal, was found in what is now the Favret Formation in Nevada, USA.
The new species reveals that pseudosuchians occupied coastal habitats globally during the Middle Triassic.
“Our first reaction was: What the hell is this?” expressed co-author Dr. Nicole Klein of the University of Bonn.
“We were expecting to find things like marine reptiles. We couldn’t understand how a terrestrial animal could end up so far out in the sea among the ichthyosaurs and ammonites. It wasn’t until seeing the nearly completely prepared specimen in person that I was convinced it really was a terrestrial animal.”
First coastal representative from Panthalassan Ocean and Western hemisphere
The Museum noted this discovery marks the first coastal representative from the Panthalassan Ocean and Western hemisphere, revealing that these crocodile relatives were present in coastal environments worldwide during the Middle Triassic.
However, the coastal species are not from the same evolutionary group but they discovered fossil indicating that pseudosuchians were adapting to life along the coasts independently.
Smith describing the scenarios stated: “Essentially, it looks like you had a bunch of very different archosauriform groups deciding to dip their toes in the water during the Middle Triassic.”
“What’s interesting, is that it doesn’t look like many of these ‘independent experiments’ led to broader radiations of semi-aquatic groups,” he added.
The naming of the species involved consulting with a member of the Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe to honor the local heritage and choosing a name that reflects both its ecological role and cultural significance.
Paleontologists believe that B. eremicarminis evolutionary affinities point towards them accomplishing diversity rapidly after the End-Permian mass extinction. The fossil analysis are still being conducted to ascertain the details.
Smith explained that a growing number of recent discoveries of Middle Triassic pseudosuchians hinted that an underappreciated amount of morphological and ecological diversity and experimentation was happening early in the group’s history.
“While a lot of the public’s fascination with the Triassic focuses on the origin of dinosaurs, it’s really the pseudosuchians that were doing interesting things at the beginning of the Mesozoic,” he added.
The study was published earlier this week [July 10, 2024] in the journal – Biology Letters.
