“However, their origins in the preceding Triassic Period are poorly understood. “These are among the most iconic prehistoric animals and are well known from plentiful fossils in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods,” Kammerer said. The researchers believe that Kongonaphon belonged to the early lineage of Ornithodira, the group of animals that contains dinosaurs (including birds) and their relatives, the flying pterosaurs, according to Christian Kammerer, a research curator in paleontology at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and a former Gerstner Scholar at the American Museum of Natural History. “That’s critically important for confidently concluding that the ancestors of dinosaurs and pterosaurs were tiny, in contrast to the later dinosaur giants that roamed the landscape or large pterosaurs flying high above them,” Flynn said. By studying the teeth, they were able to determine that this creature lived on a diet of hard-shelled insects, which helped them come up with its name.īy studying a small slice of the thigh bone, the researchers were able to determine that the tiny creature was not a baby, but a nearly full-grown adult. The researchers were intrigued by its small size and tiny pointed teeth, Flynn said. University of Queensland University of QueenslandĮvidence of huge carnivorous dinosaurs discovered in Australia They have collected hundreds of fossils from the site over the years, Flynn said, which explains why it took so long for them to investigate this particular fossil.Ī reconstruction of a Jurassic dinosaur track-maker from southern Queensland in front of a silhouette of the largest known T. The research team was led by American Museum of Natural History Frick Curator of Fossil Mammals John Flynn and included scientists and students from the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar. The fossil was first discovered in 1998 encased in sandstone at a site in Madagascar. This would include the newly discovered fossil Kongonaphon kely, a name comprised of a mix of Malgasy and ancient Greek that means “tiny bug slayer.” While dinosaurs were some of the largest creatures to walk the Earth and pterosaurs were the largest to ever fly, their origins may be rooted in creatures on a much smaller scale. The study published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The diminutive fossil was found in Madagascar, where other intriguing fossils have helped researchers paint a picture of unique animals that lived millions of years ago. A “tiny bug slayer” that only reached 4 inches in height was the ancestor of much larger dinosaurs and flying pterosaurs 237 million years ago, according to a new study.
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