Athletic, crocodile-like reptiles with bladed teeth made their last stand in the Caribbean as recently as 4.5 million years ago.
New fossils unearthed in the Dominican Republic suggest the reptile group went extinct millions of years later than previously thought, researchers report April 30 in Proceedings B of the Royal Society. The findings also help paint an unexpected picture of ancient Caribbean ecosystems.
The Age of Reptiles came to a dramatic close 66 million years ago with the abrupt extinction of non-avian dinosaurs and other major reptile groups at the end of the Cretaceous Period. Mammals came into their own in the aftermath. In South America, things were more