Paris (AFP) — Scientists announced Wednesday they have discovered the oldest-known member of the lizard family in southwest England, a tiny creature that used its surprisingly large teeth to hunt cockroaches 242 million years ago.

The ancient reptile, which lived during the Middle Triassic epoch shortly before the rise of the dinosaurs, was so small its entire body could fit in the palm of a human hand.

“The new animal is unlike anything yet discovered and has made us all think again about the evolution of the lizard, snakes and the tuatara,” the latter of which is a New Zealand reptile, Dan Marke of the University of Bristol said in a statement.

The skeleton of the oldest known member of the lepidosauria order, a family of reptiles, was found at a fossil-rich beach in Devon, southwest

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