By IANS
Rio de Janeiro : Brazilian paleontologists have found an 85-million-year-old fossil they say is of a creature that represents the evolutionary missing link between ancient crocodiles and the present species, Spain’s news agency EFE reported.
The 80-percent-complete skeleton of the new species, dubbed Montealtosuchus arrudacamposi, was found at Monte Alto in Brazil’s southeastern Sao Paulo state.
A team from the Museum of Paleontology and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro carried out an evaluation of the fossil.
A reconstruction of the animal indicates that it was a fleet-footed, land-based creature with long legs. The Montealtosuchus is thought to have been 1.5 metres (five feet) long and weighed around 40 kg.
Researcher Felipe Vasconcellos said the discovery contradicts current theories that the crocodile originated in the Northern Hemisphere.
He said so far no evidence has been found in the northern half of the globe of an intermediate species that could be the missing link in the evolution of crocodiles.
Researchers said the newly discovered species has characteristics that place it between ancient and modern crocodiles on the evolutionary scale.
Montealtosuchus arrudacamposi was a meat-eater that fed mainly on decomposing animals and lived in hot, dry environments, the paleontologists said.