A well-preserved historic crocodile skull discovered on the Jurassic Coast has been declared a new species.

The 130million-year-old specimen has been named Goniopholis Kiplini after Rudyard Kipling – author of The Jungle Book – in recognition of his enthusiasm for natural sciences.

Dating back to the early Cretaceous period the animal will have lived with other crocodiles, turtles and fish in the shallow lagoon that covered much of Purbeck.

Richard Edmonds, Earth science manager in the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site team, discovered the skull in the course of regular site monitoring in Swanage three years ago.

After being granted permission by Natural England and Swanage Town Council, the skull was excavated by Mr Edmonds with help from local collectors Steve Etches and Chris Moore.

Mr Moore and his son Alex then carefully prepared the fossil at their workshop in Charmouth.

They soon realised that the skull was of potentially considerable scientific interest and it was loaned to Bristol University to be studied and scanned.

As a result of the university’s work, the new identification has been accepted and published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

Mr Edmonds said: “Despite more than 200 years of collecting, specimens new to science continue to be found on this eroding coastline.

“The fossil record is far from complete although the chance of a creature such as this being fossilised is very slim.

“People will still be making new discoveries 200 years from now.”

Professor Mike Benton from Bristol University said: “This specimen shows that there’s plenty of life in the Dorset Jurassic Coast.

“These must be some of the most heavily collected rocks in the world and yet it’s wonderful to see a new species coming out.

“On a damp, wintry day in Swanage, we have to imagine a world of lush tropical trees, balmy hot lagoons, and crocodiles of all sizes swimming and snapping lazily at dinosaurs on the sea shore.”