After 250 years of misidentification, a jurassic crocodilian has finally been identified.  Mystriosaurus laurillardi reached a length of 15 feet and was discovered in a Bavarian town in the 1770’s. It was previously identified as a similar species Steneosaurus bollensis which lived in the same area. That area being, a large section of Germany and it was also found in the UK.

             Its skeletal features resembled the appearance of the Gharial, a modern day crocodilian with a thin snout and lots of needle shaped teeth. “Mystriosaurus looked like a Gharial but with a shorter snout with its nasal opening facing forwards.” says Sven Sachs from the Naturkunde-Museum Beilefeld, as stated on Science Daily.

The study was led by the Naturkunde-Museum Beilefeld in Germany, was headed by Sven Sachs, and it was published in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, which was approved by the Palaeontographical Society, Leverhulme Trust and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.