The Geological, Mining and Metallurgical Institute (Ingemmet) within the framework of the III Symposium – I International Congress of Paleontology of Peru presented for the first time the articulated and almost complete skeleton of a juvenile fossil crocodile (gharial), which would belong to the genus Piscogavialis, which is approximately 10 million years old.
The discovery of this fossil crocodile was made at the end of 2023 in the rocks of the Pisco Formation, exactly in the Ocucaje desert in Ica, and was made by paleontologist Mario Urbina, who together with specialists from the Regional Geology Directorate of Ingemmet and Colegio La Unión, managed to extract it.
After extraction, the fossil was taken to the facilities of Ingemmet, the governing body of national paleontology, where it underwent a preparation process of almost 80 hours, which was challenging due to the extreme hardness of the sandstone where it was found and due to its complicated morphology.
This fossil of a gharial crocodile has special characteristics, because it is the first time that a juvenile specimen has been discovered in Peru and that it also has an almost complete articulated skeleton, between 3 to 4 meters. These specimens, in adulthood, reached up to 9 meters.
Ingemmet's paleontology specialists will continue to carry out the necessary studies on the gharial crocodile fossil to determine the biological, geological and environmental processes in which it has been found. It is expected that from December the fossil will be exhibited to the public at the Ingemmet facilities, at the headquarters located in San Borja.
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