An "agile and lightweight" predecessor to the dinosaurs - dating back 237 million years - has been discovered in Brazil. Scientists say Gondwanax paraisensis is a new species of "silesaurid” - an extinct group of reptiles that lived millions of years before dinosaurs roamed Earth.

A fossil, thought to be one of the oldest ever discovered, could shed new light on how the dinosaurs formed from early predecessors. Scientists in Brazil have announced the discovery of a new type of early reptile that was like but not a dinosaur that is as 237 million years.

The Gondwanax paraisensis was a small, four-legged reptile, roughly the size of a small dog. It measured about 1 meter long and weighed between 3 to 6 kg.

Scientists in Brazil announced the discovery of one of the world's oldest fossils believed to belong to an ancient reptile dating back some 237 million years that could help explain the rise of the dinosaurs.

Scientists in Brazil have announced the discovery of one of the world's oldest fossils believed to belong to an ancient reptile dating back some 237 million years that could help explain the rise of the dinosaurs.

The newly-discovered creature, known as Gondwanax paraisensis, lived around 237 million years ago and is believed to be an ancestor of the dinosaurs, although experts are divided on the classification