WASHINGTON — Back at the dawn of the dinosaur era, a quick-moving predator set the stage for the famous and fearsome giants that followed in its footsteps, according to new research. "It was a little dinosaur, but it carried a big evolutionary stick," said Paul C. Sereno of the University of Chicago, a leader of the team that discovered Eodromaeus.
The 4-foot-long hunter lived 230 million years ago in what is now South America and appears to be the ancestor of such creatures as Tyrannosaurus rex.
"It is stunning," Sereno said of the find, reported in Friday's edition of the journal Science.
Its features, such as a balancing tail and air pockets in the skull, show it was closely related to T. rex, he said.
But while it stood on two feet like T. rex, Eodromaeus (pronounced eyo-DRO-may-us) was a lightweight at just 10- to 15-pounds.
"This is a very exciting find indeed," said Oliver W. M. Rauhut, a curator at the Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology in Munich, Germany.
"The origin and early diversification of dinosaurs is still poorly understood," said Rauhut, who was not on the research team.
Nick Longrich of the department of geology and geophysics at Yale University agreed: "It's very significant, because it helps give us a better idea of what the ancestor of carnivorous dinosaurs – including Tyrannosaurus, Allosaurus and the birds – would have looked like."
"A new species of early dinosaur is always an exciting find, especially when the specimens are so complete, like Eodromaeus," added Randall B. Irmis, a professor of geology and geophysics at the University of Utah.
The 4-foot-long hunter lived 230 million years ago in what is now South America and appears to be the ancestor of such creatures as Tyrannosaurus rex.
"It is stunning," Sereno said of the find, reported in Friday's edition of the journal Science.
Its features, such as a balancing tail and air pockets in the skull, show it was closely related to T. rex, he said.
But while it stood on two feet like T. rex, Eodromaeus (pronounced eyo-DRO-may-us) was a lightweight at just 10- to 15-pounds.
"This is a very exciting find indeed," said Oliver W. M. Rauhut, a curator at the Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology in Munich, Germany.
"The origin and early diversification of dinosaurs is still poorly understood," said Rauhut, who was not on the research team.
Nick Longrich of the department of geology and geophysics at Yale University agreed: "It's very significant, because it helps give us a better idea of what the ancestor of carnivorous dinosaurs – including Tyrannosaurus, Allosaurus and the birds – would have looked like."
"A new species of early dinosaur is always an exciting find, especially when the specimens are so complete, like Eodromaeus," added Randall B. Irmis, a professor of geology and geophysics at the University of Utah.
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