Scientists identify ancient Egyptian crocodile whose skull is missing its nose like the Sphinx

Scientists have identified a new crocodile genus from a 45-million-year-old Egyptian fossil after using CT scans to re-examine a skull recovered nearly a century ago. The fossil comes from the Mokattam Formation, the same limestone formation from which the Great Sphinx was carved. Like the monument, the skull is missing the tip of its snout. Researchers from Egypt, the UK, Sweden and Germany have named the animal Herugavialis cairensis. The findings were published in Royal Society Open Science. The animal was first described in 1927 as Tomistoma cairense, placing it in the same genus as the living false gharial, which has a long, narrow snout.