Cretaceous Confusion: ‘Smallest Dinosaur’ Claim Retracted Amid Evidence Fossil Actually a Lizard

A scientific paper that previously reported the discovery of the smallest known dinosaur has retracted its original conclusion, with researchers now believing the animal to have been a lizard.

According to research findings published in the journal Nature on March 11, scientists had believed they discovered the smallest known dinosaur, which had an estimated weight of 2 grams – roughly the equivalent of a pair of dollar bills. They christened the creature Oculudentavis khaungraae, or “eye-tooth bird.”

“Although the description of Oculudentavis khaungraae remains accurate, a new unpublished specimen casts doubts upon our hypothesis,” the researchers wrote in their July 22 retraction in Nature.

Differing opinions about the categorization of the amber-enclosed animal arose almost immediately after the paper’s publication in March. 

Jingmai O’Connor, a paleontologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing and a co-author of the study, told Nature that the data from other researchers who discovered a similar fossil “definitely say that we were wrong.” 

Sourse: sputniknews.com