By Stephen Beech

A sharp-toothed fossil found in an Egyptian desert proves that sea-going crocodiles originated in Africa, according to scientists.

They say the earliest long-snouted fossil crocodile, which was around 12 feet long, lived about 80 million years ago.

The species, dubbed Wadisuchus kassabi, has been recognised as the earliest known member of Dyrosauridae - a group of ancient crocs that differed markedly from their modern relatives.

The fossil, discovered in the Egyptian Western Desert, "fundamentally" reshapes understanding of crocodile evolution, according to a study published in The Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society .

Unlike today’s crocodiles, dyrosaurids thrived in coastal and marine environments, equipped with elongated snouts and slender, needle-sharp t

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