News Release

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June 7, 2005

Boise State Graduate Discovers New Prehistoric Crocodile Species In Australia

When Boise State University graduate Lucas Buchanan headed to Australia last year to study vertebrate paleontology at Monash University in Melbourne, he hardly expected to make a discovery that would be trumpeted in headlines around the world.

But a few months ago, Buchanan, who received a bachelor’s degree at Boise State in geology in 2003, did exactly that. Buchanan, the son of Boise State business professor Mark Buchanan, is credited with discovering a new species of prehistoric crocodile that lived 40 million years ago.
 

The find is particularly important, scientists say, because it bridges a critical gap in evolutionary history and provides new insights about how about how modern crocodiles developed.

The newly discovered species was part of a unique group of Australian crocodiles known as Mekosuchinae, explained Buchanan in a recent telephone interview from Australia. The ancient reptile was similar to its modern relatives, but its teeth were sharper and laterally compressed to rip apart food more easily. It was a meat-eater that lived in freshwater lakes or tributaries, and it would have resembled a modern-day large freshwater or small saltwater crocodile.

The new find belongs to the oldest and most primitive known genus of Mekosuchinae crocodiles — a sort of a “first kid on the block,” Buchanan said. “We’re at a really exciting point at understanding how closely related this unique group of Australian crocodiles is to lines that lead to modern crocodiles,” he added.

So how exactly did a first-year graduate student make a world-class discovery? Buchanan modestly claimed it was a result of “good timing,” but there’s a bit more to the story than that.

In February 2004, Buchanan was looking for a research project to pursue at Monash University. His professors looked around and decided to have him analyze fossilized bones that had been brought to the university six months earlier and had been placed in storage.

Buchanan got to work on the material, which came from an open-pit oil shale mine in Queensland where prehistoric crocodile remains had previously been found. At first, Buchanan had no idea he was analyzing bones from an entirely new species. But as his painstaking work on two skulls and a lower jawbone continued, he slowly began to harbor the suspicion he was looking at something entirely new.

“I had tell myself, not to get ahead of the process, to take things step by step,” he said. When his analysis eliminated a closely related species, Buchanan felt his elation build.

“We hit the point where everything was new, where we could say, OK, this not a case of just a bunch of freakish individuals,” said Buchanan. “It was very cool.”

Buchanan said he’s been surprised and at times a bit overwhelmed by the amount of publicity his discovery has generated. As soon as the news was released by Monash University in late February, Buchanan’s phone started ringing as reporters across the continent called for interviews. From there, the story was picked up by news organizations in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and the United States.

Most of the media played it straight, but a few had some fun with the story’s appeal to adventurers. One online site even featured a picture of Buchanan next to the headline “Crocodile Dundee.” Buchanan was also featured on the web site for Al Jazeera, the Iraq-based news agency. “It was a little bizarre seeing words translated into Arabic,” he said

Buchanan is continuing his research at Monash University and is now pursuing a Ph.D. in vertebrate paleontology. He said his enthusiasm for the project remains high, as the meticulous work of analyzing the fossilized bones continues.

“It’s very exciting when a new species is discovered,” Buchanan said. “It makes us realize that the world is so much bigger than we might imagine.”

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Media Contact: Janelle Brown, communications and marketing, (208) 426-1790, jbrown2@boisestate.edu

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Last reviewed on Thursday, December 22, 2005