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- Thread starter Nadhifa
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T-Rex is closely (and equally) related to all birds.
Ostrich and chicken are more closely related to each other than either is to T-Rex. And both are more closely related to T-Rex than they are to the anole.
The last common ancestor of the T-Rex and the anole is also an ancestor of the birds.
Ostrich and chicken are more closely related to each other than either is to T-Rex. And both are more closely related to T-Rex than they are to the anole.
The last common ancestor of the T-Rex and the anole is also an ancestor of the birds.
You misunderstood my question, Cacicus. Of course they highlight "chicken" (Gallus gallus) and "ostrich" (Struthio camelus) as familiar birds for the general public. But it should be noted that these two examples fall interestingly into the two older groups of the three core modern bird groupings: Palaeognathae and Galloanserae (the third being Neoaves). Also, of course those birds are closer related to T. rex than they are to anoles, but what the article says is that T. rex is closer to birds than it is to anoles. THAT is interesting - and warrants the question what is/how long ago lived the common ancestor of anoles and T. rex (and intrinsically birds)?
I always have a tendency to take Wikipedia with a grain of salt, but the read of dinosaurs in there is definitely interesting. It seems that dinosaurs (incl. birds) and crocodiles share a common grouping called archosaurs. Going back, the only part of reptiles that were already different when this groups had its common ancestor with lizards was turtles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reptile
Niels
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reptile
Niels
Ah.... sorry for the misunderstanding... Well, the last common ancestor of the lepidosaurs (the group that includes the lizards) and the archosaurs (the group that includes crocodiles, dinosaurs and birds) probably lived in the Permian period, about 270 million years ago. It was a diapsid (a reptile with two holes in its skull), but it didn't have any of the characteristics that define the Archosauria (such as a hole in the bone of the mandible) or the Lepidosauria.
We don't know exactly what this animal was, but it surely was very similar to some examples of early diapsids including Younginia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Younginia ) and Petrolacosaurus ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrolacosaurus )
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