Triassic croc relative from Ghost Ranch, New Mexico finally identified after nearly 80 years in museum basement
During the Triassic, about 205 million years ago, a newly identified relative of modern crocodiles stalked its prey, but not in water, a new study suggests.
Like other ancient crocodile cousins, this newly identified species had not yet ventured into the water. Instead, it hunted its prey on land, much like a modern fox or jackal, the researchers said.
The specimen was discovered several decades ago, in 1948 in Ghost RanchNew Mexico, in a well-known dinosaur deathbed. At the time it was provisionally cataloged as a specimen of Hesperosuchus agilisa small ancient relative of crocodiles and alligators. But now the new study shows that the creature’s unusually short snout and thick, reinforced skull set it apart as an entirely new genus and species, although the creature lived – and died – at the same time and place as H. agilis.
“This is the first really strong evidence we have of coexistence between two functionally different crocodylomorphs,” study co-author Miranda Margulis-Ohnumapaleontologist at Yale University, told Live Science. Crocodylomorphs include modern crocodiles, alligators, caimans and their extinct relatives.
Fossil of newly named short-snouted creature Eosphorosuchus lacrimosawas discovered in a Late Triassic formation (237 million to 201 million years ago). The animal’s skull, the bones of one of its hind legs, a vertebra and three scales have been preserved. The creature would have been about the size of a large dog.
“It was in the basement of the Peabody Museum [at Yale] for, literally, 75 years,” Margulis-Ohnuma said. “People would come and visit him sometimes and look at him, but he was never identified.”
In the new study, published Wednesday April 15 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological SciencesMargulis-Ohnuma and colleagues categorized the fossil in detail and compared it to a fossil from H. agilis found about 15 feet (5 meters) away. The animals in this section of Ghost Ranch lived at the same time, died and were buried during a single event, perhaps a flood.
E. lacromisa has a much shorter snout than H. agilisdiscovered the team. It also has a larger triangular postorbital – a bone in the skull – and corresponding features on its lower jaw that may have accommodated powerful muscles for biting. Together, these traits suggest that the creature had a very powerful bite.
Because E. lacrimosa And H. agilis lived side by side, the team suspects they occupied different ecological niches. For example, crocodilians with shorter snouts may have fed on larger, less agile prey than species with longer snouts.
“It’s really cool that this isn’t a lineage that’s just struggling to take off — at this point, there’s already diversity,” Margulis-Ohnuma said. “We’re really getting a glimpse of the very beginning of functional diversity among crocodiles.”
Scientists don’t know much about the early stages of crocodylomorph evolution. There aren’t many of these animals preserved in the fossil record, Margulis-Ohnuma said, and many species of Triassic crocodylomorphs are represented by a single fossil specimen.
“For early crocodiles, we’re missing a lot of data, so every new fossil that comes out is a game changer,” Margulis-Ohnuma told Live Science. “If we can continue to describe the material we have, and ideally find new fossils, it will change the story every time.”
Margulis-Ohnuma M, Ruebenstahl A, Meyer D, Bhullar B-AS. 2026 A “sphenosuchian” with a short snout and unusual dietary anatomy demonstrates that ecological specialization occurred early in crocodylomorph evolution. Proc. R. Soc. B 293: 20260130. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2026.0130
