Fossil traces of new kinds of large
prehistoric reptiles similar to crocodiles have been found in
the Italian Alps.
The traces were found at an altitude of 2,200 metres in the
western Alps by a team that published its findings in the Peer J
journal.
Found in the Altopiano della Gardetta in the province of Cuneo,
they date from a few million years after the greatest mass
destruction of dinosaurs in history, the geologists and
palaeontologists said.
They said the findings show that the area was not totally
inhospitable to life, as hitherto believed.
The research team came from the Trento Science Museum (MUSE),
Zurich University's Palaeontology Museum, and the universities
of Turin, Rome Sapienza and Genoa.
MUSE fossil expert Fabio Massimo Petti told ANSA the team had
found "exceptionally well-preserved fossilized remains of front
and rear claws about 30 cm in length".
The find enabled the team to reconstruct the body of the
crocodile-like creature, which he said was "at least four metres
long".
Petti said the animal had probably been crawling along an
ancient coast line near a river delta.
He said that it had previously been believed that the zone was
inhospitable and that the animals that survived the mass
extinction at the end of the Permian Period had migrated to
other latitudes.
"The new traces now give the lie to this theory," said Petti.
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