Extinct Crocodile Relative Inhabited New Mexico Over 200 Million Years Ago
Posted on September 11, 2016
An extinct reptile related to the crocodile has been identified by researchers from Virginia Tech's Department of Geosciences. The creature lived 212 million years ago in what is now New Mexico. It was identified from fossil remains that include hip bones, jawbones and other skull fragments.
The reptile has been identified as a new species and named Vivaron haydeni. The fossils were found in Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, in 2009 during an excavation co-led by Sterling Nesbitt, then a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, and now an assistant professor of geosciences at Virginia Tech. Emily Lessner, the lead author of the paper, worked with Nesbitt and Michelle Stocker on identifying the fossils.
Vivaron haydeni is named after a Ghost Ranch campfire tale about a monstrous 30 foot long snake. The creature was a carnivorous archosaur measuring 12 to 18 feet long. It walked on four legs.
Nesbitt says in a statement, "These were some of the biggest predators at the time, all dinosaurs were much smaller."
A research paper on Vivaron was published here in the jorunal, Peerj.