Researchers
have revealed a 16-foot, 900-pound ancient species of crocodile that
battle with 58 foot long snakes that swam in the same rivers as
Titanoboa 60 million years ago in the world’s oldest-known rain forest.
The terrifying reptile, which has an unusually blunt snout, had an incredibly strong bite, the researchers say.
The claim the discovery sheds new light on the diversity of early rainforests, and how adaptable crocodiles are.

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The new species of crocodilian, illustrated
here being constricted by. Called Anthracosuchus balrogus, after a
ferocious fictional creature (the 'Balrog') that appeared in J.R.R.
Tolkien's novel 'The Lord of the Rings'.
TOLKIEN'S CROC
Scientists
assigned the species’ name, Anthracosuchus balrogus, in a study
appearing online today in the journal Historical Biology.
Unearthed
from the same layer of rock as Titanoboa in the Cerrejon coal mine of
northern Colombia, the species is named for a ferocious fictional
creature (the Balrog) that appeared in J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel 'The Lord
of the Rings' and dwelled deep in the middle-Earth 'Mines of Moria.'
The new
species in the dyrosaurids family, lived alongside the 58-foot Titanoboa
as portrayed in the Smithsonian Channel documentary on the 'monster
snake.'
Scientists
assigned the species’ name, Anthracosuchus balrogus, in a study
appearing online today in the journal Historical Biology.
Unearthed
from the same layer of rock as Titanoboa in the Cerrejon coal mine of
northern Colombia, the species is named for a ferocious fictional
creature (the Balrog) that appeared in J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel 'The Lord
of the Rings' and dwelled deep in the middle-Earth 'Mines of Moria.'
The
new species opens a window to the early adaptability and diversity of
tropical crocodyliforms, which may help scientists better understand how
living crocodiles adapt to changing environments today, said lead
author Alex Hastings, a postdoctoral researcher at Martin Luther
Universität Halle-Wittenberg and former graduate student at the Florida
Museum of Natural History and UF’s department of geological sciences.
'It quickly became clear that the four fossil specimens were unlike any dyrosaur species ever found,' Hastings said.
'Everyone thinks that crocodiles are living fossils that have remained virtually unchanged for the last 250 million years.
'But what we’re finding in the fossil record tells a very different story.'
Jonathan
Bloch, co-author and Florida Museum associate curator of vertebrate
paleontology, said researchers were stunned when they first saw the new
species.
'We couldn’t believe it had such a boxy, short skull and that it was still a dyrosaur,' Bloch said.
'It really busts the mold for these animals.
'It is such a completely different looking beast than we’ve seen for these crocodile-like animals.'
The
animal is the third new species of ancient crocodilian pulled from
Cerrejon, one of the world’s largest open-pit coal mines.

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Titanoboa cerrejonensis measured 48 feet and
weighed as much as a car. The monster relative of the boa constrictor
lived in northern Colombia 60 million years ago
Originating in Africa, the dyrosaurids swam across the Atlantic Ocean to South America about 75 million year ago.
The
family somehow survived the extinction event that wiped out the
dinosaurs and persisted to become a top predator, Hastings said.
'This group offers clues as to how animals survive extinctions and other catastrophes,' Hastings said.
'As we face climates that are warmer today, it is important to understand how animals responded in the past.
'This
family of crocodyliforms in Cerrejon adapted and did very well despite
incredible obstacles, which could speak to the ability of living
crocodiles to adapt and overcome.'
The
crocodyliforms that lived in the Cerrejon ecosystem during the
Paleocene, when temperatures were higher than today, thrived and grew to
enormous sizes, Bloch said.
Dyrosaurids
were commonly ocean-dwellers, but the new species lived in freshwater
rivers, ate turtles and fish and would have lived in close proximity to
Titanoboa.
However,
the giant snake would have been a formidable threat to A. balrogus with
the tremendous grip of its constricting coils, he said.
'Every once in a while, there was likely an encounter between Anthracosuchus and Titanoboa,”' Bloch said.
'Titanoboa was the largest predator around and would have tried to eat anything it could get its mouth on.'
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