Euparkeria

Euparkeria, meaning "Parker's good animal", named in honor of W.K. Parker, was a small African reptile of the Early Triassic]] period between 248-245 million years ago, close to the ancestry of the archosaurs.

It had a light, lean body, long tail, and a small skull with tiny, needle-like teeth. It fed on insects and any other small animals that it could find on the forest floor, and would periodically shed its teeth in order to keep them sharp. The first fossils were found in South Africa in 1913, but better specimens were found in 1924.

Euparkeria was one of the smaller reptiles of its time, with the adults reaching the size of a large lizard (55 cm or 22 in). It lived in a world with many predators, so it had to be quick on its feet. It walked on four legs for most of the time, but if a quick getaway was needed, it could rise on to its hind legs and run at a very high speed. Euparkeria had relatively long hind legs, and may have been semi-bipedal, able to move using only its hind legs when running quickly (Carroll, 1988). This tendency towards bipedal locomotion makes Euparkeria one of the earliest reptiles to walk on two legs, a feature that would be retained in some dinosaurs and early Crurotarsi. Another means of defence that Euparkeria possessed was a sharp claw on its thumb, which could have been used as a weapon in close combat.