Amateur fossil hunter Heather Salt holding the world's oldest crocodile fossil. (Lyme Regis Museum via SWNS)
By Filipa Gaspar
The world's oldest crocodile fossil has been found during a walk on the Jurassic Coast.
Amateur fossil hunter Heather Salt initially mistook the find for a piece of wood with some nails in it.
But she had discovered an exceptionally rare crocodile maxilla (upper jawbone) during a guided fossil walk along the Lyme Regis shore in Dorset.
Preliminary identification suggests the specimen belongs to the same type of early Jurassic crocodile as Turnersuchus, a rare marine crocodylomorph known from very few examples worldwide.
In total, only around 11 specimens of this kind have ever been recorded.
Amateur fossil hunter Heather Salt discovered the world's oldest crocodile fossil during a guided walk on the Jurassic Coast. (Lyme Regis Museum via SWNS)
Of these, two are held by the Natural History Museum, one is displayed at Dinosaurland Fossil Museum and a small number are in private collections.
Lyme Regis Museum itself holds several key examples, including the holotype skeleton and additional referred specimens.
Walk guide Casey Rich said: "This is exactly why I love my role as a field paleontologist and fossil walk guide.
"By teaching the basics, we give people the chance to make their own discoveries, and sometimes that leads to finds that are not only exciting, but important to science.
Turnersuchus is a rare marine crocodylomorph known from very few examples worldwide. (Lyme Regis Museum via SWNS)
"Moments like this will remain with me forever."
A spokesperson for Lyme Regis Museum said: "Guided fossil walks led by Lyme Regis Museum offer visitors the chance to explore this unique coastline safely, while learning how to identify and responsibly collect fossils.
"Finds such as this rare crocodile specimen demonstrate that important discoveries can still be made today."
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