Science News
Miocene crocodylian from Central Poland
PUBLICATION — Marcin Górka, Jakub Březina, Milan Chroust, Rafał Kowalski, Sergi López-Torres, and Mateusz Tałanda. Crocodylian remains from the Miocene of the Fore-Carpathian Basin and its foreland—including the world’s northernmost Neogene crocodylian. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 70 (2), 2025: 225-251. doi:10.4202/app.01194.2024
The current geographic distribution of crocodiles is basically limited to the tropical zone, up to the 37th degree of latitude, but was it always like that? New crocodylians from Szczerców (Central Poland), dated to the Miocene period, about 17 million years ago, not only exceed the 50th degree of latitude, but this site is also the northernmost location of crocodiles in the entire Neogene (the younger period of the Cenozoic era). The research shows how favourable for crocodiles conditions in Europe were at that time and how crocodiles are an important indicator of past climate change.