Fossil Crocodile ("Crocodileimus robustus")

This fossil crocodile is on display in the permanent exhibition entitled Origins, the Stories of the World, in the section about the external factors affecting the evolution of species.

Part of a beautiful collection of fossil fish discovered from 1853 by the palaeontologist Victor Thiollière; from the limestone quarry of Cerin in Ain.

This specimen is exceptional in several ways. First and foremost, its state of preservation, owing to the fossilization conditions of the tropical lagoon, almost 150 million years ago. This specimen is also the basis on which the species of Crocodileimus robustus was described. It is therefore a typical example. No other remnant, or even a fragment, has since been attributed to this species. It is still the only specimen of this species in the world.
150 million years ago, around the end of the Jurassic period, the position of the continents was different: Europe was mostly covered with water and its climate was hot and dry; sixty kilometres North-East of the musée des Confluences was a tropical lagoon bordered with little coral islands.