An artist's rendering depicts the newly discovered prehistoric crocodile Montealtosuchus arrudacamposi.

Paleontologists at Federal University in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, say the land-bound reptile is a possible ''missing link'' to modern-day crocodiles.

This is scientifically important because the specimen literally is the link between more primitive crocodiles that lived in the era of the dinosaurs—80 million to 85 million years ago—and modern species,

Long-limbed and agile, the animal roamed the dry and hot terrain of Brazil's countryside during the late Cretaceous period—about 100 million to 66 million years ago

The 80-million-year-old fossil

was found in 2004 near the town of Monte Alto, Brazil,