— Earthquakes: Water as a lubricant — Geophysicists from Potsdam have established a mode of action that can explain the irregular distribution of strong earthquakes at the San Andreas Fault in California. As the science…
— Ancient environment found to drive marine biodiversity — Much of our knowledge about past life has come from the fossil record - but how accurately does that reflect the true history and drivers of biodiversity on Earth?…
— Earth's core deprived of oxygen — The composition of the Earth's core remains a mystery. Scientists know that the liquid outer core consists mainly of iron, but it is believed that small amounts of some other elements…
— Human, artificial intelligence join forces to pinpoint fossil locations — In 1991, a team led by Washington University in St. Louis palaeoanthropologist Glenn Conroy, PhD, discovered the fossils of the first - and still the only - known pre-human ape ever…
— Palaeontologist describes large nest of juvenile dinosaurs, first of their genus ever found — A nest containing the fossilised remains of 15 juvenile Protoceratops andrewsi dinosaurs from Mongolia has been described by a University of Rhode Island palaeontologist, revealing…
— Researchers pinpoint date and rate of Earth's most extreme extinction — It's well known that Earth's most severe mass extinction occurred about 250 million years ago. What's not well known is the specific time when the extinctions occurred. A team of researchers…
— Archeologists investigate Ice Age hominins' adaptability to climate change — Computational modelling that examines evidence of how hominin groups evolved culturally and biologically in response to climate change during the last Ice Age also bears new insights…
— Research suggests strong Indian crust thrust beneath the Tibetan Plateau — For many years, most scientists studying Tibet have thought that a very hot and very weak lower and middle crust underlies its plateau, flowing like a fluid. Now, a team of researchers…
— Did dinosaurs have lice? Researchers say it's possible — A new study louses up a popular theory of animal evolution and opens up the possibility that dinosaurs were early - perhaps even the first - animal hosts of lice…
Tiny dinosaur species discovered
Dinosaurs are known for their huge size, but a new species discovered in Colorado, USA, is notable for being tiny. The miniature creature from the Jurassic period is described in Proceedings of the Royal Society B this week.
Weighing in at less than a kilogram and only 65 to 75 cm long, Fruitadens haagarorum is one of the smallest known dinosaurs and the smallest found in North America. It was identified by an international team of scientists, led by Dr Richard Butler of the Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology, Munich, Germany, and the Natural History Museum in London.
It was found in a series of rocks called the Morrison Formation that has been studied for 130 years but still holds secrets. Dr Butler says 'It is still possible to discover completely unique and remarkable species. If dinosaur ecosystems were that diverse, who knows what astonishing beasts are waiting for us to discover?'
Painstaking examination of the leg bones allowed the team to work out the fossils were from young adults that were nearly fully grown. Fruitadens had an unusual smile, with canine like teeth in the lower jaw and leaf shaped teeth behind, suggesting it may have fed on both plants and animals.
Dinosaurs are traditionally divided into two groups, the carnivores which includes the very smallest species, and the predominantly plant eating ornithischians, which range from just over a metre to a lumbering 17 m length. Fruitadens cuts across these divisions, as the smallest known omnivore. It is a strategy that must was successful, as the nimble Fruitadens was around for 100 million years.
Or subscribe for our Newsletter, a free e-mail publication. It is published practically every day.
The reindeer and the mammoth already lived on the Iberian Peninsula 150,000 years ago
'Stocky dragon' dinosaur terrorised Late Cretaceous Europe
Fires and floods key to dinosaur island secrets
True causes for extinction of cave bear revealed