New 45-million-year-old crocodile species identified in stones used for the Great Sphinx
Fossils from the Mokattam Formation, the limestone that built the Great Sphinx, have been re-examined and classified as a new crocodile species named Herugavialis cairensis.
A century-old crocodile skull embedded in the limestone of Egypt's Mokattam Formation has been reassessed with modern CT imaging, showing it differs from the previously assumed Tomistoma schlegelii. The fossil, missing only the tip of its snout, has been assigned to a newly described gavial species, Herugavialis cairensis, named after the Egyptian god Heru. The study, led by Philip Mannion of University College London and published in Royal Society Open Science, places the animal among a broader group of gavials that once inhabited shallow seas across the Mediterranean.
Additional gavial species are known from the same era, indicating high crocodile diversity that fluctuated with global temperature and sea-level changes before disappearing as the Mediterranean dried out six million years ago. The discovery adds a new chapter to the region's paleontological record and connects the ancient creature to the iconic monument carved from the same rock.
Why it matters
The discovery expands knowledge of ancient crocodile diversity and links paleontology to the iconic Great Sphinx.
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