Washington - (AP) - As pterodactyls go it was small, toothless and had unexpectedly curved toes - yet scientists are welcoming their new find as another piece in the puzzle of ancient life.
Dubbed Nemicolopterus crypticus - hidden flying forest dweller - the new fossil was uncovered in the western part of China's Liaoning province, a region that was forested when it lived there about 120 million years ago.
The curved toes indicate that the pterosaurs lived most of the time in trees. Because they were flying animals, sparrow sized, their fossils are extremely rare. Discoveries such as this are fundamental to understand the evolution of these winged vertebrates.
It was the smallest of its group of flying pterosaurs, and when first uncovered the researchers thought it was a baby.
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