Photos: Early Dinosaur Cousin Looked Like a Croc

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Fossils abound

early dinosaur cousin

(Image credit: Roger Smith)

Paleontologists Sterling Nesbitt (left) and Christian Sidor (right) excavate the remains of T. rhadinus.

Nighttime work

early dinosaur cousin

(Image credit: Roger Smith)

A paleontologist labels the plaster-wrapped bones of T. rhadinus at nighttime in 2015.

T. rhadinus wasn't the only animal to rise during the Triassic, a period lasting from 252 million to 201 million years ago. Other animals that evolved during this time include dinosaurs, crocodile relatives, mammals, pterosaurs, turtles, frogs and lizards, the researchers said.

[Read the Full Story on Teleocrater rhadinus]

Laura Geggel
Laura Geggel
Editor

Laura is the archaeology and Life's Little Mysteries editor at Live Science. She also reports on general science, including paleontology. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Scholastic, Popular Science and Spectrum, a site on autism research. She has won multiple awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association for her reporting at a weekly newspaper near Seattle. Laura holds a bachelor's degree in English literature and psychology from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in science writing from NYU.