Avialae: Bird Line Diverges
Birds are not “like” dinosaurs, they are dinosaurs. Birds evolved from the same branch that gave us T.Rex and Velociraptor.
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Dinosauria
Pterosaurs Diverge From Dinosaur Ancestors (within Ornithodira)
Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to conquer the air, evolving a unique “finger-wing” anatomy that allowed them to dominate the skies for 160 million years.
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Archosauria Diverge Within Reptiles
LCA of crocodiles and birds — the larger archosaur branch that later gave rise to crocodilians, pterosaurs, dinosaurs, and birds.
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Pterosaurs Emerge
Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to achieve powered flight, but they were not dinosaurs.
Ornithischians Diverge Within Dinosauria “Bird Hipped”
Ornithodirans were the early branch that later gave rise to both pterosaurs and dinosaurs, including birds.
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Eoraptor lunensis.
Eoraptor reminds us that classification is not always neat at the beginning of a lineage. Early dinosaurs can be hard to classify because of a mix of traits.
Eoraptor lunensis. Read More »
Bird-line Archosaurs: Asilisaurus kongwe (within Ornithodira)
Asilisaurus shows that the bird-line archosaurs were already evolving dinosaur-like bodies before true dinosaurs appeared.
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Bird-line Archosaur: Nyasasaurus parringtoni
One of the last bird-line archosaurs before true dinosaurs is the Nyasasaurus parringtoni, which lived during the Middle Triassic period, around 243 million years ago. Discovered in Tanzania, Nyasasaurus represents a key transitional form, showcasing features that are both dinosaurian and pre-dinosaurian, highlighting the evolutionary path leading to more well-known dinosaurs of the Late Triassic
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Amniotes Emerge: Amniotic Eggs
The amniotic egg evolved in the first amniotes, which evolved into today’s reptiles, birds, and mammals.
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