New species of ancient crocodile named in honour of Welsh school teacher

A strange-looking ancient relative of crocodiles used to roam what is now the southern UK.

The Late Triassic fossil of a type of crocodylomorph was unearthed in southwestern England in 1969, but has been sitting in our collections just waiting for its significance to be realised. Now, a team of researchers have named this animal as a new species called Galahadosuchus jonesi.

Looking a little like a reptilian greyhound, this animal lived on land and was fast-moving, with slender, elongated limbs. It would have stalked the undergrowth for small reptiles, amphibians and early mammals when this part of the world was an upland surrounded by hot, arid plains.

The first part of the species name comes from Galahad, a knight renowned in Arthurian legend for his moral uprightness, as a reflection of the crocodylomorph’s upright stance. But the second part of the name honours David Rhys Jones, a schoolteacher at Ysgol Uwchradd Aberteifi in Cardigan, Wales, who taught the lead author of the paper.

“We named it after my secondary school physics teacher,” says Ewan Bodenham, a PhD student and lead author of the new paper. “Mr Jones was just such a good teacher, not only in being able to explain things well, but you could tell that he was genuinely interested in the sciences. I think that really inspired me.”

“He also didn’t let me settle. He was very good at challenging people and helping students be the best they can be. Above all, he’s a very funny, genuine, nice guy.”

The new species has been described and named in the journal The Anatomical Record.

Ancient early ecosystem

The remains of the ancient crocodile came from a series of geological features known as the fissure deposits, which are found on both sides of the Bristol Channel in southern Wales and southwest England.

During the Late Triassic, this region would have been a coastal environment dominated by a limestone karst system. This is when the ground is made up of soft limestone, which over time becomes riddled with sinkholes and caves, a bit like those seen across the Balkan peninsula or throughout much of southeast Asia.

This means that the remains of animals that died on the surface were washed into these caves and then covered with sediment. Over time the fissures were filled with the bones of all sorts of animals that lived in the region between about 230 and 200 million years ago.

This includes the remains of some of the earliest known dinosaurs, such as Thecodontosaurus and Pendraig, but also a whole range of other animals that they lived alongside. There is an incredible selection of smaller reptiles like Cryptovaranoides, which is thought to be one of the earliest known lizards, Threordatoth, a horned lizard-like animal, and Kuehneosaurus, a gliding reptile.

Also among these remains was an animal known as Terrestrisuchus. This belonged to the same larger group as modern-day crocodiles, known as Crocodylomorpha, but is one of the group’s earliest ancestors. Unlike today’s crocodiles and alligators, it had long, slender legs and would have lived its entire life on land.

Our collections contain multiple fossils of Terrestrisuchus, including those originally used to describe the species. It was while going through these fossils that the researchers noticed that one of the specimens wasn’t quite like the others.

“My PhD project is looking at the evolutionary relationships of these early crocodiles,” explains Ewan. “So we conducted a detailed anatomical description of this specimen, making comparisons to other early crocodiles to determine if it was another specimen of Terrestrisuchus or if it was something new.”

The team found 13 key differences between the fossils significant enough to name the specimen an entirely new species. Several of these related to the wrists of the animal, with the new species having wrist bones that are shorter and stockier when compared to the known species.

It adds another piece to the growing diversity of animals living in this region during the Late Triassic. This period preceded the Triassic–Jurassic mass extinction event, which led to huge changes in the animals and plants that inhabited the world as an increase in volcanic activity altered the climate and environment.

By documenting what animals were around before this event and how they responded to it, researchers can better understand how species react in the face of massive change and upheaval.