A recently found fossil of 99 million years old probably belongs to the smallest flying dinosaur ever found, reports the scientific journal Nature Wednesday.
The tiny fossil was found in a piece of amber that the researchers found in northern Myanmar. It is a skull of a vertebrate bird-like dinosaur of just under 2 centimeters. That would suggest that the animal was smaller than a secondary hummingbird, the smallest living bird of 5 to 6 centimeters in size with a weight of about 2 grams.
The small bird-like dinosaur lived about 99 million years ago, in the geological era mesozoic, the time of the dinosaurs. The skull of the animal, which was given the name Oculudentavis khaungraae, was found in very good condition in amber. Remnants of smaller animals are better preserved in this fossil coniferous resin than in, for example, limestone.
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A computer scan of the fossil. (Photo: Lida Xing)
Sharp teeth, so an insect eater
The researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing were able to do good research because of the good condition of the fossil. There are about a hundred sharp teeth in the mouth, suggesting that the animal ate insects and other small invertebrates. The eyes are on either side of the head. This indicates that the animal did not have a stereoscopic image, as many current predators do.
The fossil can provide insight into the evolution of birds and makes it clear that small vertebrate bird-like animals already existed in the dinosaur age.
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