July 14, 2019

A feathered dinosaur of the species Microraptor zhaoianus discovered with an almost complete lizard in its stomach

An article published in the journal “Current Biology” reports the study of a specimen of a small feathered dinosaur belonging to the species Microraptor zhaoianus which is not only almost complete but still contained in its stomach the remains of a lizard belonging to a species that was still unknown and was named Indrasaurus wangi. A team of paleontologists led by Professor Jingmai O’Connor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences examined the remains of the two animals that lived about 120 million years ago in today’s China and, also based on three previous discoveries of Microraptor with a preserved prey in their stomach, confirmed the theory that this type of dinosaur was an opportunistic predator.