A pterodactyl was a dinosaur that could fly. In fact, according to scientists, pterodactyls were the first vertebrates to fly. Most pterodactyls were massive in size with some of them having a wingspan of nearly 33 feet!

However, paleontologists working in northeastern part of China have now discovered a smaller variety of this reptile. Actually small would be an understatement. Paleontologists have found a fossil belonging to a pterodactyl that had a wingspan of just 10 inches. This means that instead of being large and ominous, these dinosaurs had a size similar to that of a house sparrow.

This new pterodactyl has been named Nemicolopterus crypticus, which roughly translates to "hidden flying forest dweller". In addition, researchers have found that this tiny pterodactyl lived around 120 million years ago.

The fossil was found buried in rocks and the researchers found out that this pterodactyl did not have teeth. From studying the fossil, they also found out that this dinosaur spent a lot of time clinging on to the branches of trees. The fossilized bones had strongly defined curves which led scientists to conclude this.

Although evidence shows that the dinosaur was not fully grown, paleontologists have not been able to answer conclusively whether it would have grown bigger. One thing is for sure, even if this pterodactyl had grown bigger, it would still be smaller than the smallest pterodactyl fossils found until now.

So, maybe it is safe to conclude that tiny pterodactyls did exist. All paleontologists now have to do is find more of these fossils to convince their detractors.



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