#oculudentavis

[roseate-felidae]

Bunn

Finally posted this art I did last month.

It depicts my two girls flanked by their namesakes (Jasmine flower and Amber gemstones respectively).

In the centre is the Lord Frith, the sun God from Watership down mythology (seen in the prologue of both films).I

Inside one of the Amber peices is Oculudentavis, a prehistoric reptile skull found in Burmese Amber.

The word BUNN is at the bottom.

Amber (my yellow Dutch) is pregnant, hopefully some kits this 25 April.

[oneweirdreptileaday]

Oculudentavis naga

[freeing-the-man]

Okay first hello friend I hope y’all are doing well and nice life things are happening for you! Second! May I request a silly prom picture with two oculudentavis? I just learned about them today and that fact that they are absolutely *tiny* delights me to no end

The same to you! Always nice hearing from you :]

I believe they had confirmed it was a lizard? I don't know much about these critters either but I love them, tiny hearts full of love! I know the default when a name isn't explicitly said is me --Gordon-- however - Barn --Barney-- had a wonderful idea,, and wanted to join me in drawing it. I hope that isn't too big of a deal! So I did an extra doodle of their face just in case :] I also did a version with and without clothes? Originally they didn't since they're lizards, however the concept of lizards with clothing was amusing

[saint-nevermore]

oculudentavis, a tiny little critter who's skull was found in some amber. although the paper describes it as a theropod roughly the size of a bee hummingbird, the 'unusual' traits described are actually typical for lepidosaurs, so it is more likely to be one of those. I reconstructed it as the bird, because although I do agree with the lepidosaur hypothesis...birds are more fun to draw ;)

[thatshowthingstarted]

Oculudentavis Khaungraae, 

Trapped in a piece of 99-million-year-old amber, the complete skull of a previously unknown species of bird-like dinosaur was recently discovered.

Smaller than the size of the tiniest hummingbird alive today, its head is the size of a thumbnail, its jaw packed with 100 serrated teeth and was likely a predator. 

The specimen’s size is on par with that of the bee hummingbird, the smallest living bird.

Photograph, computed tomography scans and interpretive drawings of the Oculudentavis khaungraaea specimen: (a) photograph of the amber piece with skull ventrolaterally exposed; scan (b) and drawing (c), left lateral view; scan (d) and drawing (e), rostral view; scan (f) and drawing (g), occipital view; scan (h) and drawing (i), dorsal view. Abbreviations: de – dentary, fr – frontal, hy – hyoid bone (or bones), jg – jugal, la – lacrimal, mx – maxilla, pa – parietal, pm – premaxilla, po – postorbital, qd – quadrate, sc – scleral ossicle, so – supraoccipital, sq – squamosal, th – teeth. Scale bars – 5 mm; longer scale bar below (b) applies to (b-i). Image credit: Xing et al, doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2068-4.

Images courtesy Lida Xing 

[esmaniottoart]

Sketch_Oculudentavis and Mr. Hyde

Pencils, 2020.

[dendroica]

Tiny bird fossil might be the world’s smallest dinosaur

Dinosaurs were big, whereas birds — which evolved from dinosaurs — are small. This variation is of great importance, because body size affects lifespan, food requirements, sensory capabilities and many other fundamental aspects of biology. The smallest dinosaurs weighed hundreds of grams, but the smallest living bird, the bee hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae), weighs only 2 grams. How did this difference come about, and why? In a paper in Nature, Xing et al. describe the tiny, fossilized, bird-like skull of a previously unknown species, which they name Oculudentavis khaungraae. The discovery suggests that miniature body sizes in birds evolved earlier than previously recognized, and might provide insights into the evolutionary process of miniaturization.

Fossilization of bones in sediments such as clay, silt and sand can crush and destroy the remains of small animals, and can flatten and decay soft parts such as skin, scales and feathers. By contrast, preservation of small animals in Burmese amber (which formed from the resin flows of coniferous trees about 99 million years ago) helps to protect their soft parts. A wide range of invertebrates and small vertebrates, including lizards and birds, have been found in Burmese amber. Specimens preserved in this material are rapidly emerging as an exceptional way to study tiny vertebrates from the age of dinosaurs.

It is in Burmese amber that the single known fossil skull of Oculudentavis has been preserved (see Fig. 1a of the paper). Oculudentavis means eye tooth bird, a name that Xing et al. chose because of two unusual features of the skull, each of which provides evidence about the likely lifestyle of this 99-million-year-old species.

First, the skull is dominated by two enormous eye sockets containing scleral ossicles — rings of bone that form the eye skeletons of birds (Fig. 1). The opening at the centre of these ossicles is narrow, restricting access for light into the eye and providing strong evidence that Oculudentavis was active in well-lit, daytime environments.

Second, the jaws of Oculudentavis have many small teeth. This might seem odd, given the absence of teeth in today’s birds, but teeth are in fact common among early fossil birds. However, Oculudentavis has more teeth than other birds of the period, and these extend unusually far back in the jaws to a point just under the eye. On the basis of these facts, along with observations of the fossilized tongue, the authors suggest that Oculudentavis was a predator that mainly ate invertebrates. This diet differs considerably from the nectar-based diet of the smallest living birds, and suggests that extinct and living birds took different paths to miniaturization (although how diet might be involved in this process remains unknown).

[si-nequal-is]

Elektorornis and Oculudentavis, the bird with weirdo feet and the lizard with birdy face.