Fossil of a prehistoric land crocodile, which grew up to 20 feet in length, found in the Caribbean
The findings of the new study is published in the
Proceedings of the Royal Society B
.The study's lead author, Lazaro Viñola Lopez, who conducted the research as a graduate student at the University of Florida, said that he knew his team members had come upon something exceptional when they unearthed the fossils. 'That emotion of finding the fossil and realizing what it is, it's indescribable,' he said in a statement.
Illustration by Jorge Machuky
'The first question that we had when these teeth were found in the Dominican Republic and on other islands in the Caribbean was: What are they?' Jonathan Bloch, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, said.
Previously, paleontologists had discovered
sebecid
-like teeth in Cuba and Puerto Rico, one set dating back 18 million years, another 29 million years. The tapered shapes and fine serrations on the teeth hinted that they belonged to top predators. However, until now, the lack of skeletal remains has made it difficult for researchers to conclude. That changed in early 2023, when a research team unearthed a fourth fossilized tooth and two vertebrae in the Dominican Republic. The fossils belonged to a sebecid and hinted that the Caribbean was a haven for these large terrestrial predators for at least 5 million years after they disappeared from other parts of the world.
representational img
These giant creatures were the last surviving members of the Notosuchia, a large and diverse group of extinct crocodilians with a fossil record that extends back into the age of dinosaurs. They vary in size, diet, and habitat, and were notably different from their crocodile relatives. How different? Well, most of the sebecids lived entirely on land!
Similar to carnivorous dinosaurs, sebecids sprinted after prey on their four long, agile limbs and tore through flesh with their notorious teeth. Built like a greyhound, with some even reaching 20 feet in length, they had protective armor made of bony plates embedded in their skin. The mass extinction that took place 66 million years ago, which wiped out nonavian dinosaurs, nearly destroyed notosuchians as well. In South America, only the sebecids endured, and with the dinosaurs gone, they quickly rose to be the top predator.
Representative img
According to a hypothesis theory by the team, a pathway of temporary land bridges or a chain of islands once allowed land animals to travel from South America to the Caribbean.
If, as the scientists think, the serrated teeth found on other Caribbean islands also came from sebecids, it means these giant reptiles once lived across the region for millions of years. Today, they're gone, and smaller predators like birds, snakes, and crocodiles have taken their place. 'You wouldn't have been able to predict this looking at the modern ecosystem. The presence of a large predator is really different than we imagined before, and it's exciting to think about what might be discovered next in the Caribbean fossil record as we explore further back in time,' Bloch said.
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'The sebecid is only the tip of the iceberg,' Viñola-Lopez concludes.
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