Jurassic crocodile is a spineless monster

Scientists uncover dinosaur in Cambridgeshire

Dinosaur experts at the University of Cambridge's Sedgwick Museum have excavated a Jurassic crocodile, found by amateur fossil hunters in Cambridgeshire.

The dinosaur, thought to be around 150 million years old, was discovered by Serena Queeney and Ed Mullett on an old airfield site in Mepal, near Ely, which is currently being cleared to make way for a fish farm.

The pair contacted the Sedgwick Museum which sent experts to examine the find. Leslie Noe, one of the Museum's palaeontologists, identified the fossil as a Stenosaurus, a type of marine crocodile that lived around 150 million years ago.

During a two-week dig, a team from the Museum managed to uncover a large part of the animal's skeleton, but curiously, they found its backbone had completely disappeared.

Dr Noe, explained: "This is a really exciting find - we have excavated a large number of Stenosaurus bones and have already identified teeth, ribs, a number of knuckle bones and quite a large part of its jaw.

"In the next few weeks we will be working hard to clean the bones and assemble them so we can see how complete the skeleton is. One obvious omission is the animal's backbone, which we could find no trace of in the clay and at the moment there is no apparent reason for its disappearance."

He added: "We were particularly pleased that Ed and Serena contacted the Museum when they realised what they had found, as we will be able to conserve the remains, and hopefully learn more about the Stenosaurus."

Nigel Viney, Managing Director of OceanFresh (UK) Ltd., the company developing the farm, said: "We were very pleased to be able to allow the Sedgwick Museum to excavate the site.

"Our fish farm has been designed to principles of sustainable development. We want to protect the environment and it is very important that we also do our best to preserve what treasures are found on the site for the benefit of future generations."

The bones will be on display at the Sedgwick Museum on 20 September, when Dr Noe, will be giving a talk entitled Swimming with Sea Monsters: Life in the Jurassic Period. This is part of a series of talks and events called Cambridge Discovery, which are organised by the Museum's Outreach Office.