Paleontologist discovers new reptile species that preceded dinosaurs

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last updated 20 January 2015

Sterling Nesbitt, assistant professor of geological sciences at Virginia Tech's College of Science, has discovered a new species of reptile that predates even dinosaurs.

Nundasuchus, a 9-foot-long, carnivorous reptile, had bony plates on its back and teeth that resembled steak knives, according to Phys.org. Nesbitt and his colleagues described the reptile in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. He told Phys.org that he knew "within 30 seconds" of finding a bone in southwest Tanzania that it belonged to a new species.

"There's such a huge gap in our understanding around the time when the the common ancestor of birds and crocodilians was alive — there isn't a lot out there in the fossil record from that part of the reptile family tree," Nesbitt told Phys.org. "This helps us fill in some gaps in reptile family tree, but we're still studying it and figuring out the implications."