The 80-centimetre-long fossil, discovered in Argentina, shows that Dakosaurus andiniensis had the massive and terrifying skull of a predatory dinosaur. Previously known only from bone fragments, the animal was nearly 4 metres (12 feet) long, with four flippers and the tail of a fish.
The leader of the National Geographic-funded expedition that discovered the skull, Zulma Gasparini of the National University of La Plata in Argentina, dubbed the creature "Godzilla".
Dakosaurus prowled the Pacific Ocean some 135 million years ago along with ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and other now-extinct marine reptiles. But Dakosaurus was not a true &to=http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/377/10492_dinosaur.html' target=_blank>dinosaur or a true crocodile: it was a crocodyliform, reports New Scientist.
According to New York Daily News, Nicknamed "Godzilla" by its discoverers, the new find was much different from other marine crocodiles, which had long snouts with many small teeth.
The discovery of the creature, given the scientific name Dakosaurus andiniensis, was reported Thursday in ScienceExpress, the online edition of the journal Science.
"This animal was one of the latest members of its family and certainly the most bizarre of all marine crocs," said Diego Pol of Ohio State University, one of the authors of the report.
O.Ch.
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