Scientists Dr. Louis Chaippe and Dr. Jingmai O’ Connor of the Natural History Museum with a team of other researchers found the tiniest dinosaur specimen the size of a bee hummingbird. Oculudentaviskhaungraae, the world’s smallest dinosaur, has a skull of size 14.25mm which is hardly the size of the width thumbnail.
Dr. Louis Chaippe, the vice president of the NHM of Los Angeles County, says that the specimen was lucky enough to be preserved in the Amber for 99years because such small specimens do not last. He said that finding such a specimen was exciting as now they can observe how such tiny creatures survived in the age of Dinosaurs.
Source: in.mashable - CT scan of the skull of eye-tooth bird dinosaur
The startling thing about eye-tooth dinosaur birds is that when creatures evolve and become small, they tend to lose their teeth and get big protruding eyes, which is not the case with Oculudentavis. This one had protruding eyes and the teeth running until below the eyes, which was a shocking finding.
What makes it the weirdest shaped dinosaur was the shape of his eyes. He had spoon like eyes faced sideways not bulging out. The scientists are still finding how they worked and how did he see?
Vivid rendering of Oculudentavis of what it might have looked 99 years ago
Dr. Jingmai O’ Connor, the leader of the study, says she is lucky enough to study such a weird fossil, and it is a wonder how natural selection creates such weird forms. The examination skull cannot tell everything about the specimen, but one thing is sure that it is the smallest bird and dinosaur with the most miniature head in that era. There might be other small dinosaurs, but it is definitely a dinosaur with the smallest skull. Dr. Connor responded to the mail of Mashable taking the wild guess of the size of the dino-bird maximum 5-7cm long.
