In this artist rendering, Teleocrater,
an early dinosaur relative, is shown feeding on Cynognathus, while hippo - like dicynodonts look on.
Another details Teleocrater,
an early dinosaur relative that walked on four crocodile - like legs.
Early dinosaur relative sported odd mix of bird, crocodile - like traits.
Charig, who died in 1997 but is included as an author on the new paper, speculated that it was some sort of
early dinosaur relative.
Not exact matches
So it's possible that these
early relatives of modern mammals evolved in cooler, upland areas and that the
dinosaurs were in the hotter, lowland areas.
By holding their limbs directly beneath their bodies, the argument went,
dinosaurs would have moved faster and more efficiently than the cousins of crocodiles and
relatives of
early mammals that also lived at the time.
Early relatives of dinosaurs called dinosauromorphs (two creatures shown at right) as well as early cousins of mammals (at left) lived in what is now South America about 235 million years
Early relatives of
dinosaurs called dinosauromorphs (two creatures shown at right) as well as
early cousins of mammals (at left) lived in what is now South America about 235 million years
early cousins of mammals (at left) lived in what is now South America about 235 million years ago.
Just a few million years later, as the
earliest dinosaurs stomped about on land, some of their reptilian
relatives slipped into the surf and began to exploit the rich ocean ecosystems.
Before the
dinosaurs, around 260 million years ago, a group of
early mammal
relatives called dicynodonts were the most abundant vertebrate land animals.
A newly discovered
dinosaur, Lythronax, was an
early relative of T. rex and had big sharp teeth and binocular vision.
However, the new
dinosaur study by University of Cambridge Ph.D. student Matthew Baron redraws the classifications, after the comparison of 74
early dinosaurs and their
relatives.
Paleontologists tend to say that finding more fossils from
early dinos and their close
relatives will be key to better understanding
dinosaurs.