Palaeontologists discover world’s smallest rhynchosaur fossil found

An illustration of the rhynchosaur (left) A scan of the specimen’s jaw. PIC COURTESY/Wikimedia Commons

Palaeontologists have discovered a fossil in southern Brazil, believed to be the smallest and youngest rhynchosaur fossil recorded.

The specimen, whose skull measures less than 2.5 cm in length, is a hatching of the species Macrocephalosaurus mariensi.

Rhynchosaurs were four-legged, barrel-shaped reptiles with parrot-like beaks.

This fossil is the first perinatal record of the Hyperodapedontinae, a diverse and abundant clade within the Rhynchosauridae family.

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