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April 30, 2010

New Dino Tawa hallae

Artists drawing based on analysis of how the newly discovered Triassic dinosaur, Tawa hallae, relates to other early dinosaurs. Researchers hypothesize that dinosaurs originated in what is now South America, and soon after diverged into ornithischians (like Triceratops), sauropodomorphs (like Apatosaurus) and theropods (like Tyrannosaurus rex), before dispersing across the Triassic world more than 220 million years ago. The theropods evolved into modern-day birds, although Tawa split off from the ancestral branch early on and was not a direct bird ancestor. Tawa was discovered during National Science Foundation-supported field excursions to Ghost Ranch, N.M.

This image accompanied NSF press release, "Newly Discovered Dinosaur Illuminates Ancient Lineage."

Credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation


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