History Buff - The Blog of Michelle Moran

A montage of the skulls of several crurotarsan archosaurs, the "crocodile-line" archosaurs that were the main competitors of dinosaurs during the Late Triassic period (230-200 million years ago). Dinosaurs and crurotarsans shared many of the same ecological niches, and some crurotarsans looked remarkably similar to dinosaurs. However, by the end of the Triassic period most crurotarsans were extinct, save for a few lineages of crocodiles, while dinosaurs weathered the storm and began a 135-million-year reign of dominance. Top (l-r): The rauisuchians Batrachotomus and Postosuchus; middle: the phytosaur Nicrosaurus and the aetosaur Aetosaurus; bottom: the poposauroid Lotosaurus and the ornithosuchid Riojasuchus. (Credit: Steve Brusatte)

ScienceDaily: In a paper published in Science, Steve Brusatte and Professor Mike Benton challenge the general consensus among scientists that there must have been something special about dinosaurs that helped them rise to prominence.

Dinosaurs epitomize both success and failure. Failure because they went extinct suddenly 65 million years ago; success because they dominated terrestrial ecosystems for well over 100 million years evolving into a wide array of species that reached tremendous sizes.

Read the rest on ScienceDaily.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Monday, September 15, 2008

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	9.15.2008 Good Luck, Not Superiority, Gave Dinosaurs Their Edge, Study Of Crocodile Cousins Reveals A montage of the skulls of several crurotarsan archosaurs, the "crocodile-line" archosaurs that were the main competitors of dinosaurs during the Late Triassic period (230-200 million years ago). Dinosaurs and crurotarsans shared many of the same ecological niches, and some crurotarsans looked remarkably similar to dinosaurs. However, by the end of the Triassic period most crurotarsans were extinct, save for a few lineages of crocodiles, while dinosaurs weathered the storm and began a 135-million-year reign of dominance. Top (l-r): The rauisuchians Batrachotomus and Postosuchus; middle: the phytosaur Nicrosaurus and the aetosaur Aetosaurus; bottom: the poposauroid Lotosaurus and the ornithosuchid Riojasuchus. (Credit: Steve Brusatte) ScienceDaily: In a paper published in Science, Steve Brusatte and Professor Mike Benton challenge the general consensus among scientists that there must have been something special about dinosaurs that helped them rise to prominence. Dinosaurs epitomize both success and failure. Failure because they went extinct suddenly 65 million years ago; success because they dominated terrestrial ecosystems for well over 100 million years evolving into a wide array of species that reached tremendous sizes. Read the rest on ScienceDaily. # Posted by Michelle Moran @ \| Monday, September 15, 2008 << Home