Thanks to discoveries in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, a team of researchers has described a new species of prehistoric dinosaur that existed before the time of the dinosaurs. Around 300 million years ago, Stenokranio boldi was probably one of the largest predators in the region under investigation, reaching an estimated length of around one and a half metres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The habitat at that time is presented as a tropical river and lake landscape, as the Museum f\u00fcr Naturkunde Berlin<\/em> announced in its study published in the Journal of Paleontology. A long time ago, a large river flowed into a lake about 70 kilometres long in this area. The animals lived on the shores of this lake and in the delta of the river. “Stenocranio had three pairs of large, backward-curved fangs in its palate, which were used to hold on to slippery prey such as fish,” explained the museum in its analysis of the remains recovered a few years ago. The prey was then probably swallowed more or less whole. In terms of body shape and lifestyle, this fish and carnivore occupied an ecological niche similar to later crocodiles. It is important to emphasise that the term ‘prehistoric dinosaur’ has nothing to do with dinosaurs. Instead, it is a general term for the quadrupeds of the Palaeozoic era.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thanks to discoveries in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, a team of researchers has described a new species of prehistoric dinosaur that existed before the time of the dinosaurs. Around 300 million years ago, Stenokranio boldi was probably one of the largest predators in the region under investigation, reaching an estimated length of around one and a half […]\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[239],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en"],"yoast_head":"\n