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News: Scientists have identified Herugavialis Cairensis, a new species of extinct crocodilian from fossils discovered in Egypt.
About Herugavialis Cairensis
- Herugavialis Cairensis is a newly discovered extinct crocodile species that lived millions of years before in Egypt.
- It has been named after the Egyptian god Heru or Horus.
- It belongs to a group of long-snouted crocodilians called gavials.
- Fossils show gavials once lived nearly worldwide, and many species swam in shallow seas.
- It is one of the six species of gharials that were found in the Mediterranean across a 43 million year period, from 66-23 million years ago.
- Location of finding: The fossils came from the Mokattam Formation in northern Egypt.
- The rocks of this formation was used to build the Sphinx of Giza in Egypt.
- Features:
- It appears similar to the gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) found today in the rivers of North India.
- It had the characteristic long, narrow snout associated with gharial-like crocodilians.
- The tip of its snout was missing.
