Daily Dino Fact: The Archosaurs make their move
Lagosuchus
Q: From which species did dinosaurs evolve? - Chipmunk
A: Another great question. As you can probably assume, dinosaurs didn’t just appear out of nowhere. Dinosaurs didn’t explode until after the Permian/Triassic extinction event that was actually more devastating to life on Earth than the extinction event that killed all of the dinosaurs.
Before the Permian extinction, synapsids were the dominant land dwelling creatures on Earth. Synapsids were mammals of the Paleozoic and any other creature closely related. This group included the famed Dimetrodon, the sail-backed lizard lookin’ thing we all know and love.
You know... this guy
Anyway, some mysterious event happened and killed more than 90% of life on Earth. This was the end of the Permian and the transition into the Triassic. This paved the way for the archosaur takeover in the Triassic. Archosaurs were diapsids, this group is represented in modern day by birds and crocodiles. Some scientists believe that Lagosuchus (pictured at top) is the archosaur that survived the extinction and was the first ancestor that the dinosaurs would have spawned from.
-Rex
Tags: archosaur, Daily Dino Fact, Dinosaurs, webosaurs
January 22nd, 2010 at 2:47 pm
Sorry for skipping through most of that, lol! Not saying it was borin though! I’m tired, so I might read it tomorrow!
~hammmy, master of bacon
January 22nd, 2010 at 2:59 pm
cool facts
January 22nd, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Thanks Rex!
I have another question:
Were dinosaurs the dominant creatures during their time, or was there some kind of other species which was more ferocious and frightening than dinosaurs?
Chipmunk
January 22nd, 2010 at 3:08 pm
I thought so… lol I must know more than i thought I did
January 22nd, 2010 at 4:45 pm
Pretty cool! Are there any un-found species of dinosaurs in the world? -Screechie
January 23rd, 2010 at 1:37 am
What are dinosaurs closest relatives?I here t rex is the ansestor of the chicken is this true?
January 23rd, 2010 at 10:18 pm
nice facts
-vpterrysaur
January 24th, 2010 at 1:53 am
Which dinosaur that more smaller than compsognathus? -Irvine
Irvine