A team of researchers have said that they have found the fossils of a new species of crocodile, which is the largest and the oldest crocodile ever known and is believed to have lived even before the dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

The team found that fossils at a site in North Carolina. The researchers believe that the 9-foot-long9-foot-longnamed Carnufexcarolinensishad lived for about 231 million years. The name signifies “Carolina butcher,” due to its dangerous features. The Natural Sciences Museum paleontologistand State University of North Carolina, Lindsay Zanno said that the “Butcher” name would easily stick in people’s minds and made it simpler for reference.

The species is classified under the early member of the croc lineage that is not found to crocodiles that live today. The researchers found various body parts including spinal column,the animal’s skull and the arm bonewere. The fossils were unearthed by Zanno and her coworkers in a Chatham County quarry.

“It was such a cool species though the size was somehow surprising but you would clearly tell that it was such a predator”. Zanno revealed