“Chilesaurus genuinely helps fill an evolutionary gap between two big dinosaur groups,” said co-author Paul Barrett, president of Britain’s Palaeontographical Society and a researcher at the Natural History Museum. One described the beast as “the most bizarre dinosaur ever found.”An upright posture, powerful hind legs and foreshortened front limbs were all reminiscent of theropods. “We realised that it was not a strange, early plant-eating theropod, but rather a strange plant-eating animal that was an offshoot of this other group, ornithischia,” Barrett said. “Our reorganisation was putting ornithischia and theropods much closer together, and this new animal helps cement that relationship,” Barrett explained. The new findings support the idea that theropods and ornithischians shared a common ancestor as early as 225m years ago.

Source: The Guardian August 16, 2017 11:18 UTC