(CNN) - A new study has shed more light on the gigantic "crocodiles of terror," which once roamed the world and fed on dinosaurs with teeth "the size of a banana."
The research, which was conducted in 2018, was published this week in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . It found that deinosuchus , a lineage of giant crocodilians from the late Cretaceous in North America, was almost as long as city buses and grew up to 10 meters long, according to the study authors.
" Deinosuchus was a giant that must have terrorized the dinosaurs who came to the water's edge to drink," study co-author Dr. Cossette said in a press release announcing the research findings. “Until now, the complete animal was unknown. These new specimens we have examined reveal a strange and monstrous predator with teeth the size of a banana. '
The name deinosuchus means "crocodiles of terror," but the study authors say they were more like alligators. However, the snout of deinosuchus was long and wide and it had two mysterious holes at the tip of its snout, which differentiated it from both alligators and crocodiles.
There were at least three species of deinosuchus and they lived in the western United States, from Montana to northern Mexico and along the Atlantic Coastal Plain from New Jersey to Mississippi, the researchers said.
LEE : They discover evidence of huge carnivorous dinosaurs that lived in Australia
The Deinosuchus was probably the biggest predator of its ecosystem, surpassing even the largest predatory dinosaurs lived at the same time. Researchers discovered bite marks on everything from dinosaur bones to turtle shells.
Fortunately, these "crocodiles of terror" lived between 75 and 82 million years ago.
"It was a strange animal," study co-author Professor Christopher Brochu said in the press release. 'It shows that crocodilians are not' living fossils' that have not changed since the age of the dinosaurs. They have evolved as dynamically as any other group.
What happened to the deinosuchus and how they became extinct is unknown , as the study authors found that they disappeared before the main mass extinction at the end of the age of dinosaurs.
Paleontology
