A newly described fossil preserved in amber reveals that a 99-million-year-old creature called Oculudentavis, recently heralded as a hummingbird-size dinosaur, was more likely a bizarre type of lizard.
In March, the first known amber-encased skull of Oculudentavis made a global splash, appearing on the cover of the scientific journal Nature and garnering widespread media coverage, including by National Geographic. At the time, the scientists interpreted the 14-millimeter-long skull as the preserved remains of an early toothed bird with lizard-like eyes. Since these types of prehistoric birds are recognized as part of the dinosaur family tree, the result was hailed as the smallest fossil dinosaur ever found.
However, the original fossil was just a skull, leaving the rest of
