ABC News reported that a tiny pterodactyl with curved toes has been found in the Liaoning region of China. It was found by a research group led by Xiaolin Wang of the Chinese Academy of Science.
A beautifully preserved fossil of a tiny pterosaur suggests that the giant pterodactyls that roamed the skies during the late Cretaceous period may have come from much smaller, tree-dwelling ancestors.
The new fossil, which was discovered in 2004 in western Liaoning province, China, is about 120 million years old.
The specimen is an almost complete, articulated skeleton with a wingspan of just 25 centimetres, making it about the size of a swallow, says its discoverer, palaeontologist Xiaolin Wang of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.
Portions of its skull are not fully fused, which suggests it may not have reached its full adult size, but its well-developed limb bones make clear that it is much older than a hatchling.
The specimen’s toe bones are long and curved, adaptations which are often seen in tree-dwelling birds and which are poorly suited for running along the ground, says Wang.