Fossils reveal ‘cute’ dinosaur forerunner smaller than a cellphone
- Kongonaphon kely, which means ‘tiny bug slayer’, was just shy of 10cm tall and probably ate insects or other small invertebrates
- The fossils, dug up in Madagascar, date from 237 million years ago
Meet Kongonaphon kely, a pocket-sized dinosaur forerunner that was smaller than your cellphone.
The creature, which predated dinosaurs and flying pterosaurs, was just shy of 10cm (four inches) tall, according to a study published on Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“Some of these things would have been quite cute animals,” said study lead author Christian Kammerer, a palaeontology researcher at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Looking like a small dinosaur that could fit in your hand, it “would probably make a great pet”, Kammerer said.
Of course, no humans were around when Kongonaphon was roaming the wild, jumping around with its strong hind legs and feeding on bugs with its peg-like teeth, the scientist said. The name means tiny bug slayer.
The fossils, dug up in Madagascar, date from 237 million years ago. Scientists figure the little guy was an adult because of growth rings in its bones, Kammerer said.
Kongonaphon was a member of a group called Ornithodira spanning the evolutionary lineage that led to dinosaurs and pterosaurs, part of a larger assemblage called archosaurs that also included the crocodilian lineage.