On Thursday, scientists announced the discovery of a 9-foot-long crocodilian ancestor that roamed prehistoric North Carolina 231 million years ago.

The discovery of the new species known as Carolina butcher or Carnufex carolinensis was published in a paper in the journal Scientific Reports.

The scientists also announced the species' discovery with a public presentation at the science museum in downtown Raleigh starting at 11 am.

The presentation includes what the creature might have looked like, based on the few bones that were found in the Pekin Formation in Chatham County, North Carolina. Palaeontologists found parts of the crocodile's skull, spine and upper forelimb.

The Carolina butcher fossil was actually discovered a decade ago. However, its bones have been sitting in the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences ever since.

The prehistoric crocodile was nine foot long and walked on its hind legs. It is believed to have been the top predator in North America before the dinosaurs arrived.

The researchers, from North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, scanned individual bones with the latest imaging technology to create a 3D model of the reconstructed skull.

This allowed them to fill in the missing pieces with the more complete skulls from close relatives.

Lindsay Zanno, assistant professor at North Carolina State University and lead author of the new research paper said, "When we got the bones out and prepared them, we found out that it was actually a really cool species. It was one of the oldest and largest members of crocodylomorph, the same group that crocodiles belong to that we've ever seen. And that size was really surprising".

Zanno added that Carnufex appears to be a missing link between creatures that stood on their hind legs and had skulls that resembled a Tyrannosaurus rex and later ones that moved around on all fours, like present-day crocs and alligators.