Pre-historic super salamander was top predator

A species of crocodile-like amphibian that lived during the rise of dinosaurs was among earth's top predators more than 200 million years ago, a study shows.

Palaeontologists identified the prehistoric species -- which looked like giant salamanders -- after excavating bones buried on the site of an ancient lake in southern Portugal.

The species, Metoposaurus algarvensis, lived at the same time as the first dinosaurs began their dominance, which lasted for over 150 million years, revealed the study published in the Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology.

The species was part of a wider group of primitive amphibians that were widespread at low latitudes 220-230 million years ago, researchers said.

"This new amphibian looks like something out of a bad monster movie. It was as long as a small car and had hundreds of sharp teeth in its big flat head, which kind of looks like a toilet seat when the jaws snap shut.

"It was the type of fierce predator that the very first dinosaurs had to put up with if they strayed too close to the water, long before the glory days of T. rex and Brachiosaurus," said lead researcher Steve Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh.

Most members of the group of giant salamander-like amphibians were wiped out during a mass extinction 201 million years ago, long before the death of the dinosaurs.

The creatures grew up to two metres in length and lived in lakes and rivers during the Late Triassic Period, living much like crocodiles do today and feeding mainly on fish, researchers said.

These primitive amphibians formed part of the ancestral stock from which modern amphibians -- such as frogs and newts -- evolved.

The species were distant relatives of the salamanders of today. It is the first member of the group to be discovered in the Iberian Peninsula, the team said.