In the Egyptian Western Desert, near El Quseir, an Egyptian research group has just discovered a new species of prehistoric crocodile, the Wasdiscus kasabi. And it’s one exceptional discovery that of the group led by Sara Saber and Belal Salem: according to experts, in fact, this crocodile lived approximately 80 million years ago (era dating back to the Campanian period), and this makes it the oldest known member of the dirosauridae.
The fossils in question (two skulls and three mandibles) belong to one new species part of the dei family Dyrosauridaeprehistoric crocodiles similar to current species, characterized by a very large snout long. The species was named “Wadisuchus kassabi” and its discovery is very important, because it allows us not only to understand some evolutionary characters of crocodiles, but also because the fossils, being found in Campanian layers, precede those of the Maastrichtian (between 70 and 65 million years ago), period in which the species of the dei family were believed to have evolved until today Dyrosauridae.
Compared to subsequent species, the Wadisuchus kassabi presented fewer teethall smaller, which fit between the two arches in a different way than current crocodiles. Furthermore, the nostrils were located higher on the snout. These archaic features, observed in the most ancient Dyrosauridae known so far, have made it possible to clarify some aspects of the evolution of crocodiles that have remained little understood until now.
These species probably originated in North Africafrom where they later spread to South Americato. In a period preceding the Maastrichtian, however, some of them – having now evolved on the American continent – returned to Africa.
