It weighed as much as a chicken and stood a little taller than a crow, but a small dinosaur discovered in Patagonia could have a big role in rewriting the history of evolution.
About 90 million years ago, among the dunes of what is now Argentine Patagonia, one of the smallest dinosaurs ever known ran, hunting lizards and small mammals. It is called Alnashetri cerropoliciensis, named after the village of Cerro Policia, near where its remarkably preserved skeleton was found.
The fossil was discovered in 2014 by a team of Argentine and American researchers. After years of study, a study published in the journal Nature revealed new details about this lightweight creature, about 40 centimeters high and 70 centimeters long (mostly the tail). Because of its thin legs, the researchers had christened it the “patas flacas.”
