Posted on 07/11/2019 6:36:06 PM PDT by ETL
Researchers have found the fossilized remains of a new species of lizard inside the stomach of a small flying dinosaur known as a microraptor.
Known as Indrasaurus wangi (after an ancient Hindu legend), the lizard was found almost entirely complete, SWNS reports.
The lizard was swallowed whole, head first, by the microraptor, a crucial clue that provides new information into the eating habit of the winged dinosaur.
"The new lizard had teeth unlike any other previously known from the Jehol Biota, thus expanding the diversity of this clade and possibly suggesting a unique diet for this new species," according to the statement announcing the find.
"The lizard is largely complete and articulated, confirming the current perception of Microraptor as an agile opportunistic predator that, like extant reptiles, including raptorial birds, ingested small prey whole and head first," the study's abstract reads.
Led by professor Jingmai O'Connor from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the researchers found that Indrasaurus wangi "had teeth unlike any other previously known from the Jehol Biota [in northeastern China], thus expanding the diversity of this clade and possibly suggesting a unique diet for this new species."
This is the fourth time that preserved stomach contents have been found inside a microraptor — which means "tiny plunderer" or "small thief" — suggesting "that it was an opportunistic predator" and that it fed in a manner similar to carnivorous birds and lizards alive today.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
That could be why the lizard was unknown.
One minute you’re having a nice dinner the next minute you’re smashed flat between two rocks!
It’s like a turducken......
Makes ya wonder how old is old.
Yes, it’s a very “mysterious” lizard.
I find it amazing that, at 125 million years old, the dinosaur can still fly!
“Mysterious new lizard found inside 125-million-year-old flying dinosaur”
Nobody understood their love.
We got even, we have chicken take-out places *everywhere*. Buzzard! Thanks ETL. Seems like a good one for the weekly Digest ping as well.
Here are the other GGG topics introduced this week. Either it was a slow week, or, hmm, redacting the rest of this comment.
You’re welcome, FRiend.
What the heck are you doing up at 4:22AM??
I should talk! Lol!
I don’t sleep much anymore.
I got worked up outdoors, chased by a flying dinosaur!!! ;^)
Oh, and I’ve had this streaming in the next room, so I could listen to it. What a lineup, and yet, what a train wreck:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lLv58zwGhU
Thanks. Haven’t been to the Met in a couple months. Currently live within moderate walking distance (~2 miles).
Lecture looks interesting. Will check it out tomorrow.
Millions of years from now researchers are going to be puzzled by an intact TidePod found in the stomach of a fossilized millenial.
Wangi?.....As in .........Tastes kinda wangi?................
Have these people never watched a Heron eat a fish?.............
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