230 Million year old 4' dinosaur - predicessor to T-Rex

New research has unveiled a previously unknown carnivorous dinosaur from 230 million years ago, making it one of two of the earliest dinosaurs known. Dubbed Eodromaeus, the pint sized two legged animal fills an important niche in the story of early dinosaur evolution. Eodromaeus is the second fossil found in the same area in the same strata of rock. Almost identical to Eoraptor uncovered in the early 1990s, Eodromaeus shows evidence of being a meat eater while Eoraptor was quite possibly a plant eater. These two dinosaurs, almost identical but actually two separate species puts them both at the very dawn of dinosaur evolution when plant eaters split from their carnivorous cousins. Though the genetic lineages would continue for another 165 million years, Eodromaeus was paving the way for the mega-meat - eaters like Tyrannosaurus rex, while Eoraptor's linage led to the big plant eaters like Diplodocus and Apatosaurus.

Reuters article Mail Online article

Thanks to Dan for the Article

New Dinosaurs found at Utah's Dinosaur National Monument

Dinosaur National Monument continues to be a treasure trove of undiscovered dinosaur species.

Recent discoveries in sand stone deposits have proved extremely rare. Two complete sauropod skulls of previously unknown animals, possibly over 105 million years old.

From the Yahoo News article:

• The new species is called Abydosaurus mcintoshi. Researchers say it's part of the larger brachiosaurus family, hulking four-legged vegetarians that include sauropods

The skulls are so intact that new clues can be determined about how this species of dinosaurs ate. A. Mcintoshi had short conical teeth. Not designed for chewing but for grabbing and swallowing.

Read more about the new dinosaur discoveries at Yahoo News

Thanks to Tim Sayell

Giant Sand Worms found in England!

Holy Frank Herbert Batman huh? Not too often I can get that sensational but it would appear that this is true if you take into account how long ago.

Proof that giant worms, which grew up to 3ft long and 6in wide, which lived 260 million years ago, were found in Torbay, Devon. These animals lived underground before dinosaurs roamed the earth.

Scientists have found evidence of large burrow holes that are said to have been made by the creatures as they traveled beneath the surface - but as yet haven't found any evidence of the animals which made them. The large holes were found across an area of sediment at the bottom of what was a desert valley or dry river bed that only contains water during times of heavy rain.