Tulsa World: More ancient croc species found

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More ancient croc species found

University of Chicago Professor Paul Sereno (left) and McGill University Associate Professor Hans Larsson excavate the fossil skull of a 100-million-year-old crocodile in Niger. The croc, which they nicknamed BoarCroc, was one of several that inhabited a lost world now buried in the sands of the Sahara. Mike Hettwer / National Geographic / AP

By WILLIAM MULLEN Chicago Tribune
Published: 11/22/2009 2:26 AM
Last Modified: 11/22/2009 5:04 AM

Crocodiles may have a nasty, nightmarish reputation among most people, but the leathery, snappish critters have been around so long that they probably gave most dinosaurs a fright, too.

The University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno and his colleague at McGill University in Montreal, Hans Larsson, unveiled on Thursday fossils of five ancient crocodile species that lived with and, in some cases, hunted and ate dinosaurs that roamed what is now the Sahara Desert.

The eponymous nicknames Sereno assigned to each of the fossil species pretty much tells the stories of the ecological niches each occupied: BoarCroc, RatCroc, DuckCroc, DogCroc and PancakeCroc.

The first four spent time in water but also were adept land animals that could get all four legs under their bodies and extend them to their full length — unusual by today's croc standards. That allowed them to "stand tall" and gallop across the landscape, chasing down prey or running pell-mell to escape predators.

PancakeCroc, 20 feet long, got its name not because it favored flapjacks but because of its bizarre, 3-foot-long, pancake-flat head and snout.

Sereno said during an interview Wednesday in Chicago that PancakeCroc patiently held its jaws open underwater for hours waiting for an unwary fish or frog to swim into them. Like modern crocs, PancakeCroc, formally named Laganosuchus thaumastos, waddled on short legs that extended from its side and never strayed from its riverbank home.

BoarCroc, RatCroc and PancakeCroc are three new species introduced in a paper by Sereno and Larsson published Thursday in the research journal ZooKeys. They also describe new fossil specimens of DogCroc and DuckCroc, both already known in scientific literature.

They lived in Africa when it was part of a single giant land mass called Gondwanaland, composed of all the present-day southern continents and India.

In 2002 Sereno introduced the biggest crocodile known to history: SuperCroc (Sarcosuchus imperator), a 110-million-year-old fossil of a 40-foot, 8-ton killer that he discovered in Niger.

RatCroc (Araripesuchus rattoides), DuckCroc (Anatosuchus minor) and DogCroc (Araripesuchus wegeneri) were much smaller, each about 3 feet long, each able runners that spent a lot of time out of the water, each using its own odd physiological adaptations to forage for food.

DogCroc, found in Niger, ran on long legs like a dog, but had a long crocodilian tail that made it a very good swimmer. Sereno said it probably ate more like a badger, dining on plants and animals, using its soft snout to push through foliage searching for food.

RatCroc, found in Morocco, had buckteeth that it used to root in soil in search of plants and grubs. DuckCroc, found in Niger, had a duckbill-like snout with a pointy "Pinocchio" nose that searched for fish, frogs and grubs.

The much larger, 20-foot-long BoarCroc (Kaprosuchus saharicus), found in Niger, apparently was a swift runner and a ferocious carnivore that chased down smaller dinosaurs. It had three sets of huge upper and lower boarlike tusks that sliced through the flesh of prey like scissors.

There are 23 species of living crocodiles. Only one of them, which Australians call "Freshies" because they live around freshwater, can lift itself high on its legs and dash like the fossil beasts that Sereno and Larsson have found. By WILLIAM MULLEN Chicago Tribune

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	Report Comment Elusive, Owasso (11/22/2009 2:57:14 AM) A bucktooth croc, now that's funny.
	Report Comment Few Clothes, America (11/22/2009 11:22:21 AM) I recently saw a man with yellow crocs on his feet.
	Report Comment gadfly, Broken Arrow (11/22/2009 12:16:27 PM) How can a "100-year-old crocidile" be found on a "6000-year-old" earth? Any good Christian knows that this is impossible. And, if any good Christian doesn't know this, ask an ORU science professor; or better yet, visit the Creation Museum in KY and see the evidence for yourself. A "100 million-year-old croc" on a 6000-year-old earth" how illogical can the scientific community get? "WWJT?"
	Report Comment FUTURE WORLD, Tulsa (11/22/2009 2:54:19 PM) could use a few in the Illinois river to help clean things up.
	Report Comment Thunder196, Tulsa (11/22/2009 2:58:26 PM) FW They would have a supply of food up there on those chicken farms that have chickens that have non toxic producing waste.

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