article_snippet: Age: The reptile lived 231 million years ago .
article_snippet: The reptile had a long slender skull with a bony boss running from side to side.
article_snippet: The reptile fore limbs were short and The reptile probably ran on The reptile larger hind limbs.
article_snippet: Running on The reptile hind legs, Carnufex would have been the top predator in the area during the Triassic period.
article_snippet: Carnufex said: 'Fossils from this time period are extremely important to scientists because scientists record the earliest appearance of crocodylomorphs and theropod dinosaurs, two groups that first evolved in the Triassic period, yet managed to survive to the present day in the form of crocodiles and birds. '
article_snippet: Other large predators like rauisuchids and popsauroids, cousins of the ancient crocodiles, roamed much of the southern Hemisphere.
article_snippet: Other large predators like rauisuchids and popsauroids, cousins of the ancient crocodiles would have hunted alongside many of the early theropod dinosaurs that began to emerge at the same time.
article_snippet: This is according to a study published last year that showed, for the first time, how the reptiles evolved in a dinosaur dominated world.
article_snippet: However, the dinosaurs did not come to dominate until 135 million years later when many of these large crocodylomorphs died out.
article_snippet: These animals hunted alongside the dinosaurs, creating a predator pile-up.
article_snippet: Theropods were ready understudies for vacant top predator niches when large-bodied crocs and Theropods relatives bowed out. '
article_snippet: Predatory dinosaurs went on to fill large-bodied crocs and their relatives exclusively for the next 135 million years.'
article_snippet: Susan Drymala, a palaeontologist at North Carolina State University who was also involved in the research, added: 'As theropod dinosaurs started to make it big, the ancestors of modern crocs initially took on a role similar to foxes or jackals, with small, sleek bodies and long limbs. '
highlights_snippet: Palaeontologists say Palaeontologists  was probably the top predator in the Triassic Period .
  
highlights_snippet: Palaeontologists  lived around 231 million years ago, long before the dinosaurs dominated .