70-Million-Year-Old Fossils of Crocodile-Like Apex Predator Unearthed in Argentina
The paleontologists have found a beautifully preserved skull and jaws as well as in the context of the postcranial skeleton of a kind of peirosaurus previously unknown in Patagonia, Argentina.
Reconstruction of the life of Kostensuchus Atrox. Image credit: Gabriel Diaz Yanten.
Kostensuchus Atrox Land traveled during the age of the Cretaceous maastrichtian, about 70 million years ago.
The old species was a large predator, about 3.5 m (11.5 feet) long and 250 kg of weight.
The animal had a wide and powerful jaw and large teeth capable of devouring large prey, probably including medium -sized dinosaurs.
Kostensuchus Atrox belonged to Peirosauridae, a family from Gondwanan from CrocodyLomorphs within the Notosuchia sub-order.
“This new species belongs to the Notosuchien Peirosauridae clade, representing the most recent and most southern record of this crocodyliform group,” said Dr. Fernando Novas, paleontologist of the Museo Argentino de Ciencias naturaire de Bernardino Rivadava, and his colleagues.
The fossilized skull and the bones of Kostensuchus Atrox were found in the Chorrillo formation, about 30 km southwest of the city of El Calafate in the province of Santa Cruz.
“The Chorrillo training was formed about 70 million years ago,” said paleontologists.
“At that time, the south of Patagonia was a warm and humid landscape of the floodplates of fresh water, which houses creatures such as dinosaurs, turtles, frogs and various mammals.”
“The new fossil discovered in this formation is largely intact, including a skull and jaws with visible details, as well as several bones of the body.”
Kostensuchus Atrox is the second largest predator known to scientists in Chorrillo’s training, and was probably one of the best predators in the region.
The new species is also the first crocodyliform fossil found in this formation, and one of the most intact crocodyliforms ever found, giving scientists a new insight on these prehistoric animals and their ecosystem.
“The discovery of Kostensuchus Atrox Considerably widens knowledge on the anatomy of the peerosaurides at broad stop, previously known to extremely fragmentary remains of South America and Madagascar, “said the researchers.
“The new anatomical information highlights the two, the similarities and the differences between the large elegant peirosaurids and the Baurusuchids, the other crocodyliform clade which evolved independently as Apex predators during the Cretaceous of Gondwana.”
“”Kostensuchus Atrox Be part of the last ecosystem of the Cretaceous of southern Patagonia, in a freshwater ecosystem under a temperate hot climate with seasonal humidity, alongside a diversified fauna of dinosaurs, mammals and other vertebrates, “they added.
“The wide and high muzzle of Kostensuchus AtroxWith significantly large and robust ziphodont teeth, as well as a wide adductor bedroom in the skull and deep mandibular ramus, and the robust anatomy of the before-rate limbs suggests that the new species was capable of subjecting great prey. “”
“These features imply that Kostensuchus Atrox played the role of a superior predator in this final-cretaceous ecosystem. »»
The discovery of Kostensuchus Atrox is described in an article published this week in the journal Plos a.
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Fe novas and al. 2025. A new great hypercarnivorous crocodyliform of the Maastrichtian in southern Patagonia, Argentina. Plos a 20 (8): E0328561; DOI: 10.1371 / Journal.pone.0328561
