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BY HARUMENDHAH HELMY
ANCHOR ZACH TOOMBS
Scientists say they’ve pinpointed what could be the Earth’s earliest dinosaur. It lived
as far back as 15 million years earlier than the dinosaur previously thought to be the
oldest.
In a study published in Biology Letters, the
researches described this primitive dinosaur as bipedal, about Labrador Retriever-sized,
but with an extra-long tail. It was a vegetarian who roamed the southern parts of Pangea 243
million years ago in the Middle Triassic period.
Found by paleontologist Rex Parrington in Tanzania’s
Lake Nyasa back in the 1930s but not fully examined until today, researchers named the
specimen Nyasasaurus parringtoni. For now, the study’s researchers are stopping short
of stating the specimen as the definitive oldest dinosaur on record. It could just be
a very close relative.
But speaking to Discovery News, the study’s researchers
say “The bone tissue of Nyasasaurus is exactly what we would expect for an animal at this
position on the dinosaur family tree. It's a very good example of a transitional fossil;
the bone tissue shows that Nyasasaurus grew about as fast as other primitive dinosaurs,
but not as fast as later ones."
Rapid bone growth distinguishes dinosaurs from other
reptiles. To determine its age and species, researchers studied the Nyasasaurus’ fossilized
upper arm bone, among other bones. The team compared the analysis to those of other dinosaurs
and its closest relatives. LiveScience said the scientists found that its “bone fibers
are disorganized, like those of other early dinosaurs.”
As Science magazine points out, tracking dinosaurs’ evolution is tricky business. “Fossils that
old tend to be fragmentary, and researchers don't always agree about their evolutionary
pedigree.”
Before the Nyasasaurus analysis, the record
holders for oldest dinosaurs were the Eoraptor and Herrerasaurus, which existed about 230
million years ago.
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