Tiny Mobile Dinosaur Found In Madagascar

Illustration of a tiny dinosaur (Frank Ippolito / AMNH)

JAKARTA - Usually, dinosaurs are famous for having very large bodies. But now, scientists and archaeologists have found dinosaur fossils that are as small as the size of a cell phone.

Quoting Sciencealert, Tuesday, July 7, he was nicknamed Kongonaphon Kely (K. Kely), which means "little insect killer" that only has a size no bigger than a cellphone. Even so, this creature still has the power to survive that there is no doubt that despite its small size.

This tiny insect-killing dinosaur found living in Madagascar about 237 million years ago during the Triassic period, was only 10 centimeters about 4 inches high. Despite this, scientists say K. Kely belongs to the ancient group Ornithodira, the last common ancestor of all dinosaur and pterosaur relatives.

"There is a general perception of dinosaurs as giants. But these new animals are very close to the difference between dinosaurs and pterosaurs, and this is very small," said paleontologist Christian Kammerer of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

Although many have questioned how such colossal creatures could have evolved from such humble origins. Moreover, the answer has never been completely clear, since relatively few specimens from the Ornithodira lineage have ever been found and studied.

Illustration of the form Kongonaphon Kely (Alex Boersma)

The first fossils of this dinosaur were first discovered, in 1998, at a site around southwestern Madagascar, along with the remains of hundreds of other ancient specimens.

"It took some time before we could focus on these bones, but once we did, it was clear we had something unique and worthy of a closer look," said paleontologist John Flynn of the American Museum of Natural History.

Other information from K. Kely is the smallest known species in the early dinosauromorph family called Lagerpetidae. This Ornithodira is known to be tiny, but scientists and archaeologists did not suspect that it was only the size of a cellphone.

"Although dinosaurs and gigantism are practically identical, an analysis of the evolution of body size in other dinosaurs and archosaurs in the context of this taxon suggests that the earliest members of the group were distinct and perhaps smaller than previously thought. The events of deep miniaturization occurred near the base of the lineage. "the research team explained in a new paper.

Size comparison of Kongonaphon Kely with other bipedal dinosaurs (Phylopic.org by Scott Hartman [CC BY 3.0] & Frank Ippolito / AMNH)

If true, it is likely that the ancestors of smaller dinosaurs and pterosaurs could adapt to an environment previously incapable of this type of archosaur as a kind of evolutionary advantage.

The skeletal anatomy of K. Kely's tiny body allowed scientists to develop other characteristics of ancient creatures. Including the evolutionary process from the movement of this bipedal animal, to how the fine hairs to warm the body of this creature from extreme weather.