Thursday, January 31, 2008

Croc Update (Missing Link Edition)

Brazil finds fossil of missing link to crocodile | Science | Reuters: "RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazilian paleontologists said on Thursday they had found the fossil of a new species of prehistoric predator that represented a 'missing link' to modern-day crocodiles.

The well-preserved fossil of Montealtosuchus arrudacamposi, a medium-sized lizard-like predator measuring about 5 1/2 feet (1.7 meters) from head to tail, dates back about 80 million years to the Late Cretaceous period.

'This is scientifically important because the specimen literally is the link between more primitive crocodiles that lived in the era of the dinosaurs 80-85 million years ago and modern species,' said paleontologist Ismar de Souza Carvalho of Rio de Janeiro Federal University."

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