Nyasasaurus

Nyasasaurus is a basal dinosauromorph that may be the earliest known dinosaur. It was a small bipedal animal at about 2-3 m in length. Nyasasaurus is difficult to classify due to inconclusive fossil evidence, but if it is a true dinosaur, it pushes the dinosaur lineage back about 12 million years to the Middle Triassic.

Rendition of possible appearance of the dinosaur genus Nyasasaurus from the Middle Triassic, possibly the earliest known dinosaur. Black portions represent the partial skeletal fragments (a humerus and six vertebrae) from one specimen blue portions represent fragments from a second specimen (three cervical vertebrae) on which the current likely form of the animal is based.