Dinosaur the size of a hummingbird? Creature found in amber from 99 million years ago
A tiny bird trapped in amber 99 million years ago uncovered in northern Myanmar is the smallest dinosaur on record, according to new research published this week.
The skull is smaller than the Bee Hummingbird, the smallest bird alive today, but it has more teeth than any other bird fossils ever found, according to the researchers. All those teeth probably mean this tiny dinosaur bird was a predator, they said.
Researchers named the new species Oculudentavis khaungraae in the paper published in the journal Nature.
“The tooth row is longer than other birds’, extending all the way under the eye, so the researchers gave the new dinosaur the name meaning ‘eye-tooth-bird.’ Its full name, Oculudentavis khaungraae, honors Mrs. Khaung Ra, who donated the specimen to the Hupoge Amber Museum,” according to a news release announcing the discovery.
“Animals that become very small have to deal with specific problems, like how to fit all sensory organs into a very small head, or how to maintain body heat,” said Jingmai O’Connor, lead author on the study and a research associate at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
“This process—called miniaturization—commonly occurs in isolated environments, most famously islands. It is no wonder that the 99-million-year-old Burmese amber is thought to have come from an ancient island arc,” she said.
“It’s the weirdest fossil I’ve ever been lucky enough to study,” O’Connor said. “I just love how natural selection ends up producing such bizarre forms. We are also super lucky this fossil survived to be discovered 99 million years later. Bivalves came very close to destroying the specimen - one of their drill holes goes right into the braincase. Just goes to show the extraordinary circumstances that all need to be just right for fossils to make it into human hands.”
“It’s lucky this tiny creature was preserved in amber, as such small, fragile animals aren’t common in the fossil record. This finding is exciting because it gives us a picture of the small animals that lived in a tropical forest during the Age of Dinosaurs,” said Luis Chiappe, senior vice president of research and collections at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 4:35 PM.
