Pint-sized bird may be smallest dinosaur yet

An artist's impression provided by China University of Geosciences shows a rendering of a bird-like dinosaur named Oculudentavis khaungraae, discovered in a 100-million-year-old piece of amber from northern Myanmar. PHOTO: CHINA UNIVERSITY OF GEOSCIENCES
A handout photo provided by China University of Geosciences shows the skull of a bird-like dinosaur named Oculudentavis khaungraae discovered in a 100-million-year-old piece of amber from northern Myanmar. PHOTO: CHINA UNIVERSITY OF GEOSCIENCES
An artist’s rendering of what the Oculudentavis khaungraae might have looked like with flesh and feathers. The smallest known dinosaur’s fossil was found in amber and researchers say it is tinier than the smallest living bird, the bee hummingbird. PHOTO: HAN ZHIXIN

PARIS (AFP) - Tinier than the teeniest bird, older than T-Rex and perfectly preserved for eternity. Scientists have identified a 100-million-year-old flying dinosaur encased in amber that may be the smallest yet discovered.

The skull of Oculudentavis khaungraae was found in a globule of amber in Myanmar, offering researchers a startlingly clear view of its features.

"When I first saw it, I was blown away," said Professor Jingmai O'Connor, a paleontologist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and lead author of the study published in Nature on Wednesday (March 11).

"It's pretty exquisitely preserved and really weird looking, with its unique scleral ring (eye bones) and large number of teeth," she told AFP.

The preserved skull is just 7.1mm long, likely making it the smallest dinosaur yet discovered. It would have been smaller than the smallest bird alive today, the bee hummingbird.

The team members even refer among themselves to the specimen as "Teenie Weenie", Prof O'Connor said.

Despite its minuscule size, researchers believe it hunted insects, using its sharp teeth and large eyes to home in on prey.

Unlike fossils encased in rock, amber specimens still retain their soft tissue, showing scientists their original colour and morphology.

As to whether Teenie is a bird or a dinosaur, Prof O'Connor said the lines were blurry. "We think it's a bird - the skull has a shape that only occurs in birds and some dinosaurs," she said. "However there are no skull characteristics that define birds, therefore it could be a dinosaur or even something else."

Writing in a linked editorial, Prof Roger Benson from Oxford University's Department of Earth Sciences said the discovery suggests birds may have evolved miniature body sizes much earlier than thought. "This indicates that, only shortly after their origins late in the Jurassic period (which lasted from about 201 million to 145 million years ago), birds had already attained their minimum body sizes," he said.

And although it is encased in amber, there is no risk of scientists bringing it back to life, like a certain Steven Spielberg film.

"There are most certainly fragments of DNA preserved inside, but we'll never reach Jurassic Park," said Prof O'Connor, referring to the 1993 movie.

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