Posted on 02/12/2008 12:54:52 PM PST by Paleo Conservative
A pterodactyl so small that you could hold it in your hand glided in forest canopies in northeastern China where it feasted on insects 120 million years ago, new fossil remains suggest.Paleontologists discovered the nearly complete skeleton of a toothless mini-pterodactyl, called Nemicolopterus crypticus, in the western part of China's Liaoning Province.
With a wingspan of nearly 10 inches (25 centimeters), this half-pint represents the smallest pterosaur, a group of winged reptiles that shared a common ancestor with dinosaurs and ruled the skies during the Jurassic period (206 million to 144 million years ago) and the subsequent Cretaceous period, which ended 65 million years ago.
"The animal is a very young animal, but it's not a hatchling that just left the egg," said researcher Alexander Kellner of the Department of Geology and Paleontology at the Museu Nacional/Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. "Therefore it is the smallest pterosaur ever found."
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Hey, it’s small enough to cook in a popcorn popper............
ping to me to save for my dinosaur-crazy daughter
We shoudl find out if Helen Thomas had one as a pet when she was a youngster.
Good, but please do inform her that pterodactyls are not dinosaurs.
She’s already informed me of the fact!
“Gee, Mom, don’t you know anything?”
Probably tasted a good deal like whooping crane.
How do the scientists know the animal ate insects? Perhaps he could peck out the eyes of dinosaurs whose arms were to short to protect their faces. Then, hundreds of predators could show up.
Oh man, my fave, Pterdactyl and dumplings.
Pteradactyl caccatori?
Pteraturduchin, a cajin dish.
Fricassee of pteradactyl.
and of course country fried dactyl.
Probably comparative anatomy with other vertbrates that eat insects, plus the size of the animal.
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Thanks Martin, and PCottraux for the additional ping. |
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Wingspan?
Nearly ten inches?
Hah!! I still got braggin rights!
LOL! If you think about it, most bugs back then were probably bigger than he was! Noble try though!
Ah yes, this toy breed was kept as a pet in all the nicest caves.
If they were still around, male gay couples would probably just carry them around.
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