Scientists have discovered Alnashetri, a crow-sized dinosaur from Patagonia, whose rarely preserved and almost complete skeleton reveals how an unusual group of carnivores first evolved.

Scientists are still speculating why the small predatory dinosaur Alnashetri, weighing only 70 decagrams, did not grow larger. It was previously thought that its ant-based diet might have been a limiting factor.

Scientists have discovered Alnashetri, a new crow-sized dinosaur species in Patagonia, whose rare and nearly complete skeleton provides insights into the evolution of an unusual group of carnivores.

‘Alnashetri is truly tiny. Weighing in around 0.7 kg (1.5 pounds), it is smaller than a chicken,’ stated University of Minnesota paleontologist Peter Makovick

Researchers have found the skeleton of Alnashetri cerropolisiensis, a dinosaur weighing only about one hundred grams, making it one of the smallest known dinosaurs. The specimen, named 'Alna', was likely an insectivore.

‘Alnashetri cerropoliciensis’ belongs to a strange carnivorous lineage that refutes the idea of the progressive miniaturization of its group