Pictures: "Nasty" Little Predator From Dinosaur Dawn Found

[Judi Lynn]

Pictures: "Nasty" Little Predator From Dinosaur Dawn Found
Eodromaeus: Nasty, Brutish, and Short
Photograph courtesy Mike Hettwer

Deadly and dog-size, the dinosaur Eodromaeus (shown in reconstruction) lived in Argentina 230 million years ago, a new study says. The new species is providing fresh insight into the era before dinosaurs overtook other reptiles and ruled the world, a new fossil study says. (Watch video.)

"This is the most complete picture we have of what a predatory dinosaur lineage – what it looked like at the very beginning," said study co-author Paul Sereno. "It was small but nasty—this animal was fast."

One of the earliest known dinosaurs, Eodromaeus was only about 4 feet (1.3 meters) long and would have barely reached the knees of an adult human. But this unassuming little dinosaur gave rise to the theropods, including Tyrannosaurus rex and the "terrible claw," Deinonychus, the new study suggests.

Like those fearsome descendants, Eodromaeus had a long rigid tail, a unique pelvis shape, and air sacs in its neck bones that may have been related to breathing—and which add to evidence that theropod dinosaurs eventually evolved into today's birds.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/01/pictures/110113-new-dinosaur-fossils-predator-eodromaeus-pictures-science-dawn-runner/?now=2011-01-13-00:01

http://images.nationalgeographic.com.nyud.net:8090/wpf/media-live/photos/000/312/cache/tiny-dinosaur-predator-eodromaeus-head_31217_600x450.jpg

Rrrowr
.

[Kceres]

1. It's kind of cute, really. It reminds me of Dino in the "Flintstones".

I wonder if they hunted in packs?

[qazplm]

3. Here Dino.

Now, be a good boy and give Daddy his face back.

[Trajan]

6. Hah ... very reminiscent of ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuA8K1mQWMc


"Sweet, little upside down cake - cares and woes, you've got them.

Ooh little upside down cake - your top is on your bottom.

At last, little upside down cake - your troubles never stop.

Because, little upside down cake ... your bottom's on your top."

[givemebackmycountry]

2. Damn, I want one of those...

I could feed my Mom's obnoxious little dog and useless snot nosed kittehs to it.
Of course, that's just one meal so I better hope it likes dry cat food as a follow up.

[DCKit]

5. Oh, you're gonna get it now!!!! nt

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Interesting side note in the BBC report - they have reclassified Eoraptor as a herbivore

Eodromaeus has also cast light on an earlier discovery by the same team, another two-legged creature called Eoraptor, for which additional bones have now been collected.

The latter creature has been reclassified by the researchers as an early herbivore rather than a predator, and though similar in appearance to Eodromaeus, they now think Eoraptor could be an early example of the sauropods which eventually spawned such giants as Diplodocus.

"These two dinosaurs actually represent the routes of two incredibly different radiations," said Professor Sereno. "We're looking at just a few years away from that first 'eve' dinosaur and looking at two of the great lineages, which looked very similar at this point."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12175263

Nature article: http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110113/full/news.2011.17.html?s=news_rss

[Odin2005]

7. That's very interesting!

[Judi Lynn]

8. New Predator 'Dawn Runner' Discovered In Early Dinosaur Graveyard

New Predator 'Dawn Runner' Discovered In Early Dinosaur Graveyard
by Staff Writers
Chicago IL (SPX) Jan 17, 2011

A team of paleontologists and geologists from Argentina and the United States have announced the discovery of a lanky dinosaur that roamed South America in search of prey as the age of dinosaurs began, approximately 230 million years ago.

Sporting a long neck and tail and weighing only 10 to 15 pounds, the new dinosaur has been named Eodromaeus, the "dawn runner."

"It really is the earliest look we have at the long line of meat eaters that would ultimately culminate in Tyrannosaurus rex near the end of the dinosaur era," said Paul Sereno, University of Chicago paleontologist and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence. "Who could foretell what evolution had in store for the descendants of this pint-sized, fleet-footed predator?"

Sereno and his colleagues describe a near-complete skeleton of the new species, based on the rare discovery of two individuals found side-by-side, in the journal Science. The paper presents a new snapshot of the dawn of the dinosaur era-a key period that has garnered less attention than the dinosaurs' demise.

More:
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/New_Predator_Dawn_Runner_Discovered_In_Early_Dinosaur_Graveyard_999.html