AUSTRALIA.- A group of researchers from scientific institutions in Australia announced the discovery of a new species of crocodile from the Cretaceous period known as ‘Confractosuchus sauroktonos’, whose fossilized bones were preserved within a soft siltstone concretion, reported the Australian Museum of Winton Age of Dinosaurs (AAOD).
In 2010, museum staff and volunteers found the remains near the Winton Formation, a geological deposit approximately 95 million years old. This is the second ‘broken dinosaur killer’ crocodile discovered in the area.
AAOD research associate Dr. Matt White led the study, published Thursday in the journal Gondwana Research. Scientists from the University of New England and the Australian Organization for Nuclear Science and Technology participated.
How was the research carried out?
Because the small crocodile bones within the concretion were too fragile to be removed by conventional methods, it was decided to use neutron and synchrotron X-ray microtomography scanning techniques to identify and study the bone material.
Dr. White used the scanned data files to perform a 3D reconstruction of the bones of Confractosuchus sauroktonos, a process that took 10 months of computer processing to prepare the digital sample.
What was the results?
The study revealed that inside the stomach of the Confractosuchus were the remains of a dinosaur with the hip of a bird, known as an ‘ornithopod’, which weighed about 1,700 grams, but because it was partially digested, the weight could not be known. with precision.
“While Confractosuchus would not have specialized in eating dinosaurs, it would not have missed an easy meal, such as the remains of the young ornithopod found in its stomach,” Dr White commented, adding that the water crocodile was about 2.5 meters long at the time of his death.
“Given the lack of comparable global specimens, this prehistoric crocodile and its last meal will continue to provide clues to the relationships and behaviors of animals that inhabited Australia millions of years ago.”
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