A fossil crocodilian from Egypt has been reclassified as Herugavialis cairensis after CT scans revealed skull anatomy unlike that of the genus where it had spent nearly a century. Its skull is missing the tip of its long snout—a striking resemblance to the Great Sphinx of Giza, whose nose is also absent. The resemblance is geological and visual, not evidence that the same event damaged both objects.
A museum fossil became a new crocodile genus
The fossil comes from Egypt’s Mokattam Formation, a limestone unit about 45 million years old. Specimens recovered in the 1920s were traditionally assigned to Tomistoma, the genus that includes the living false gharial. A new study led by Paul M. J. Burke and colleagues revisited several specimens, including a nearly complete skull, using computed tomography (CT) to inspect structures hidden inside the bone.
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The scans and external anatomy showed that the animal was not simply an ancient member of Tomistoma. A raised ridge surrounding the eyes and other cranial features distinguish it from that genus. The researchers therefore established Herugavialis, with the Egyptian species named Herugavialis cairensis. The formal account is “Cranial anatomy of the Middle Eocene Egyptian crocodylian Herugavialis cairensis provides new insights into gavialoid diversity in the Mediterranean region,” by Burke, Stephan N. F. Spiekman, Belal S. Salem, Sara Saber, Hesham M. Sallam and Philip D. Mannion, published in Royal Society Open Science 13(10), article 261173 (2026).
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Why CT scanning mattered
A CT scan creates a three-dimensional view of internal anatomy without cutting into a valuable specimen. In this case, that made it possible to compare internal skull structures alongside visible features and to test whether the old classification still fit. The holotype skull is held by the State Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart. Lorenz Müller described it in 1927; the new work changes its generic placement rather than discovering a freshly excavated animal.
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The missing snout echoes the Sphinx’s missing nose
The fossil skull lacks the tip of its snout. The Great Sphinx also lacks its nose, and both the fossil-bearing rocks and the monument are connected to the Mokattam Formation. Limestone from this formation was used to carve the Sphinx, creating an unusually close visual and geological coincidence.
That parallel does not show that the same force broke both noses, or that the objects were damaged at the same time. The study and accompanying institutional accounts do not establish a precise date, mechanism or perpetrator for the Sphinx’s missing nose. The resemblance is an analogy: one ancient crocodilian skull and one monumental sculpture made from related Egyptian limestone each survive without the end of a prominent projection.
“Given this coincidence, we decided to name the new crocodile after the Egyptian god Heru, who was possibly the inspiration for this monument,” UCL Earth Sciences co-author Philip Mannion said. The name Herugavialis combines that cultural reference with the animal’s gavialoid identity.
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What kind of crocodilian was Herugavialis?
Gavialoids are long-snouted, fish-eating crocodilians. A narrow, elongated jaw is generally associated with catching fish, although the fossil record cannot provide the same direct behavioral observations available for living animals. The new skull adds an extinct African form to a group whose past range was far larger than its modern distribution.
| Animal | Snout and feeding context | Range or age | Evidence and status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Herugavialis cairensis | Long-snouted gavialoid; anatomy interpreted from its fossil skull | Middle Eocene Egypt, about 45 million years ago | Fossil skull, CT anatomy and comparative morphology; extinct |
| Indian gharial | Very long, narrow snout adapted to a fish-eating lifestyle | Modern South Asia | Living species; critically endangered |
| False gharial | Long snout and fish-eating gavialoid anatomy, with a broader muzzle than the Indian gharial | Modern Southeast Asia | Living species; critically endangered |
Only two gavial species live today: the Indian gharial and the false gharial. Fossils show that gavialoids once occupied Africa, Europe, Asia, the Americas and the Caribbean, making their present distribution a remnant of a much wider history. As Burke noted, gavials “lived all over the world, from Europe and the Americas to Asia.”
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Egypt once supported several gavial species
During the Middle Eocene, the coastal region represented by the Mokattam Formation was part of a shallow Mediterranean marine setting. It supported multiple gavial species, so Herugavialis was one member of a broader crocodilian community rather than an isolated oddity.
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UCL’s account links crocodile diversity to global temperature and sea level. Later environmental change reshaped that community. About six million years ago, the Mediterranean dried after the basin was cut off from the Atlantic, and crocodiles disappeared from the region. That event occurred tens of millions of years after Herugavialis lived and helps explain why a once-diverse Mediterranean gavial record has no living local representatives.
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What the discovery changes
- Taxonomy: A fossil long placed in Tomistoma now anchors a separate genus, showing why museum collections can yield major revisions without new excavation.
- Evolutionary history: The skull strengthens evidence for diverse gavialoids in the ancient Mediterranean and for a formerly near-global distribution.
- Methods: CT imaging can expose diagnostic internal anatomy while preserving irreplaceable specimens.
- Conservation perspective: The two surviving gavial species are critically endangered, while their fossil relatives demonstrate how much diversity has already vanished.
The result is not a crocodile “found inside” the Sphinx stone. It is an Egyptian fossil whose rock formation also supplied material for the monument. The missing snout tip makes the connection memorable, but the scientific importance lies in the anatomy, the revised classification and the evidence for a richer ancient gavial world.
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