Crocodile, probably Pallimnarchus Snout fragment with tooth sockets

These 50,000 year-old bone fragments, found near Eulo in South West Queensland, Australia, probably came from the snout of Pallimnarchus, an extinct species of fresh-water crocodile. Today, freshwater crocodiles (Crocodylus johnsoni) grow to just over 2 m in length, but Pallimnarchus probably reached about 5.5 m in length - as large as the modern saltie, or estuarine crocodile (Crocodylus porosus). Its broad snout held massive, robust conical teeth, for seizing its prey. It had bony plates, called osteoderms, embedded beneath the skin of its head and neck; as crocodiles are territorial, these were most probably for protection against the robust, conical teeth of other Pallimnarchus!