Scientists identified a new extinct crocodile species from the same Egyptian rocks used to build the Great Sphinx; even the fossil is missing the tip of its snout, echoing the monument– timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Long before the Great Sphinx became one of Egypt’s most recognisable monuments, the landscape around Cairo was home to a very different kind of long-snouted creature. Now, a fossil discovered from the same ancient rocks used to construct the Sphinx has revealed a new species of extinct crocodile and it comes with an extraordinary coincidence. The fossil is missing the tip of its snout, creating an uncanny parallel with the monument’s famously absent nose. The species, named Herugavialis cairensis, has been identified through a fresh examination of fossils recovered nearly a century ago. The findings, published in Royal Society Open Science, offer a glimpse into a time when crocodiles thrived in the ancient Mediterranean.

A crocodile lost to time

According to a report published by Phys Org, the fossils were originally recovered during the 1920s from Egypt’s roughly 45-million-year-old Mokattam Formation. Among them was a remarkably well-preserved skull that had been classified as belonging to Tomistoma, the group commonly associated with the modern false gharial. That identification, however, was based largely on the fossil’s outward resemblance to the living species. Modern paleontological techniques have now allowed researchers to take a much closer look.CT scanning, in particular, enabled scientists to examine the internal structure of the skull without damaging the fossil. Combined with new analytical methods, the investigation revealed a series of anatomical differences significant enough to establish the crocodile as a previously unrecognised species, adds the report.The skull of Herugavialis cairensis remains relatively complete, although its missing snout tip became one of the most intriguing details of the discovery, claims the findings.