Scientists Might've Discovered World's Oldest Dinosaur
Nyasasaurus parringtoni Natural History Museum, London/Mark WittonPaleontologists aren't quite sure yet, but a new species of dinosaur--if it is actually a dinosaur--appears to be the oldest ever found, predating the existing oldest dinosaur by 15 million years. Paleontologists have discovered what very well might be the oldest known dinosaur, if in fact Nyasasaurus parringtoni is a dinosaur at all. A study published in the journal Biology Letters is describing a new species of prehistoric reptile that appears to predate the previous earliest-known dinosaur by 10 to 15 million years. That not only stands as a new superlative in dinosaur classification, but if confirmed, it fills a gap in the evolutionary timeline that's been puzzling scholars for years. Nyasasaurus parringtoni is a fairly small relative of the massive reptiles we've come to associate with the word dinosaurs. Measuring between 6 and 10 feet long, it walked semi-upright on two legs and weighed...