Article: Creation/Evolution - Creation/Evolution Debate

A newly discovered dinosaur species that roamed the Earth about 200 million years ago may help explain how the creatures evolved into the largest animals on land, scientists in South Africa said today.

The Aardonyx celestae was a small-headed herbivore with huge barrel of a chest, and the scientists said it could prove to be a missing evolutionary link.

“This is definitely without a shadow of a doubt a brand new type of dinosaur — one that no one has seen before and one that has a very significant position in the family tree of dinosaurs,” said Australian paleontologist Adam Yates.

The newly discovered species shows an intermediary stage in the evolution of these creatures, Mr. Yates said. “Aardonyx gives us a glimpse into what the first steps toward becoming a sauropod involved,” he said.

Mr. Yates believes that the scientists may have stumbled onto a “paleontological oasis” in central South Africa that may yield further previously unknown dinosaur species. Already they are working on the bones of two other specimens found at the site and have also unearthed some giant teeth believed to belong to a mysterious carnivorous dinosaur.