A preserved historic crocodile skull has been declared a new species.
The 130 million-year-old specimen has been named Goniopholis Kiplini after Rudyard Kipling – author of The Jungle Book – in recognition of his enthusiasm for natural sciences.
Dating back to the early Cretaceous period, when dinosaurs walked the Earth, the animal would have lived with other crocodiles as well as turtles and fish in the shallow lagoon that covered Purbeck, Dorset.
Richard Edmonds, earth science manager of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site team, discovered the skull in Swanage three years ago.
After being granted permission by Natural England and Swanage Town Council, the skull was excavated by Mr Edmonds with help from local collectors Steve Etches and Chris Moore.
They soon realised the skull was of scientific interest and it was loaned to Bristol University to be studied and scanned.
The identification has been accepted and published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
Professor Mike Benton from Bristol University said: "This stunning specimen shows there's plenty of life in the Dorset Jurassic."
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