Asilisaurus Kongwe - New Species Suggests Dinosaurs Older Than Previously Thought

Wednesday, March 3, 2010 - 14:35 in Paleontology & Archaeology

A newly discovered species that shared many characteristics with dinosaurs but fell just outside of the dinosaur family liveed 10 million years earlier than the oldest known dinosaurs. Researchers writing in Nature say the discovery of  Asilisaurus kongwe (a-SEE-lee- SOAR-us KONG-way) means that dinosaurs and their close relatives such as pterosaurs (flying reptiles) might have also lived much earlier than previously thought. The research also suggests that at least three times in the evolution of dinosaurs and their closest relatives, meat-eating animals evolved into animals with diets that included plants. These shifts all occurred in less than 10 million years, a relatively short time by geological standards. read more

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