It quietly appeared on the ocean "stage" after the mass extinction. Its name contains "crocodile", but it is a close relative of ichthyosaurs!

Marine reptiles were very large in the Triassic period. Ichthyosaurs, thalassosaurus and finned dinosaurs evolved rapidly and were widely distributed around the world. However, a mysterious marine reptile was only found in the Nanzhang-Yuan'an area, which means that this creature only lived in a specific area in South China during the Early Triassic. It is the Hubei crocodile.

Hubei crocodile is an extinct marine reptile named after Mr. Yang Zhongjian. It has unique characteristics. It is about 1 meter long, with a spindle-shaped body, a slender snout, no developed teeth, fin-shaped limbs, and relatively thick abdominal ribs. Although it is called a "crocodile", it does not show any signs of ferocity like modern crocodiles. Many scientists believe that Hubei crocodile is a close relative of ichthyosaurs. Its peculiar shape may also indicate that Hubei crocodile is limited by its living environment and can only survive in the specific environment of Nanzhang and Yuan'an.

This Hubei crocodile fossil was discovered in the Nanzhang-Yuan'an area. The early Triassic marine reptile community discovered in the Nanzhang-Yuan'an area can be called the most representative marine reptile community in the early Triassic together with the Anhui Chaohu dragon fauna discovered in Anhui. The fossils of the Nanzhang-Yuan'an fauna are mainly produced in the laminated limestone section of the Jialingjiang Formation at the junction of Nanzhang and Yuan'an in Hubei. Unlike the representative marine reptiles found in the Anhui Chaohu dragon fauna, which is Chaohu ichthyosaur, the fossils found in the Nanzhang-Yuan'an fauna mainly include dinosaurs, Hubei crocodiles, ichthyosaurs, Hanjiang lizards, etc. They lived in the Early Triassic, and the era they lived in was close to that of the Chaohu dragon fauna.

Following the discovery trajectory of the Nanzhang-Yuan'an fauna, there have been intermittent fossil discoveries among the people, but due to the lack of professional knowledge and awareness of cultural heritage protection, the fossil discoveries have not received attention from the locals. With subsequent research, species such as Sun's Nanzhangsaurus, Yuan'an Guizhousaurus, and Nanzhang Hubei Alligator were discovered one after another. It was not until 2011 that scholars such as Cheng Long and Chen Xiaohong first called the marine reptile community in the Nanzhang-Yuan'an area the "Nanzhang-Yuan'an Fauna", and it became well known to everyone.