But a recent reexamination led experts to believe that the creature stood apart from the other sea crocodiles of its time, and so deserved a new name.

NHM Curator Lorna Steele said: “I’ve always been into heavy rock, and Motorhead are one of my favourite bands and since Lemmy died I have been keen to name something after him.

“I had found a small crocodile in Morocco and thought that would have to do, but then this one emerged and I thought ‘Oh My God!’ this is the nastiest, meanest, biggest sea-crocodile there was. So it was perfect.

“Sea crocs are extinct now, but they were once a massive group of their time and were dominant in the Middle Jurassic. You wouldn’t have wanted to come across one. They were far bigger than today’s crocodiles. These things were massive, with armoured plates on their back and belly.

“Although Lemmy passed away at the end of 2015, we’d like to think that he would have raised a glass to Lemmysuchus, one of the nastiest sea creatures to have ever inhabited the Earth.”