A new species of lizard has been discovered inside the stomach of a 120 million-year-old dinosaur. Researchers in China found the near-complete specimen inside a Microraptor zhaoianus—a small dinosaur that lived in what is now northeastern China.
Microraptors were four-winged dinosaurs that are believed to have been capable of flight. They were among the smallest dinosaurs to live, measuring just a few feet in length. It is thought that they were fed on mammals, birds, fish and lizards. Previously, four other microraptor fossils have been discovered with other species preserved inside their stomach.
Researchers at the Shandong Tianyu Museum of Nature identified another example of this, but after examining the lizard they realized it was an entirely new species. The lizard was found to be "largely complete" and had been swallowed head first. It had unusual, widely spaced teeth unlike anything else found in this part of China. It appears to have been related to Liushusaurus—an extinct species of lizard that lived in the same region.
The species has been named Indrasaurus wangi. This was after Chinese paleontologist Wang Yuan and Indra, a Vedic god. In the legend, Indra was swallowed by the dragon Vritra during a battle. Discovering a lizard swallowed whole inside the microraptor's stomach confirms previous suggestions that the dinosaur would swallow prey whole, similar to reptiles and birds living today. From the microraptor and lizard remains, the researchers were able to create a food web of the ecosystem in this part of China at the time.
Professor Mike Benton said, “A key job for paleontologists is to understand the life of the past, and this includes ancient food webs. Just what did dinosaurs eat? The new find gives clear evidence that on one day in the Cretaceous, a particular Microraptor ate a lizard. Not only that, this little dinosaur swallowed the lizard whole and head-first."
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