A team of researchers has discovered a new specimen of a microraptor -- volant dromaeosaurid Microraptor zhaoianus -- with the remains of a nearly complete lizard preserved in its stomach. The researchers have named the lizard after Lord Indra.The lizard is unlike any previously known from the Cretaceous and represents a new species- Indrasaurus wangi. The name Indrasaurus was inspired by a Vedic legend in which the god Indra was swallowed by a dragon during a great battle (the dragon here referring to Microraptor).The lizard was named after Prof WANG Yuan from IVPP, who is also director of the Paleozoological Museum of China. Professor WANG is an expert on the paleoherpetofauna of China and has been in charge of numerous exhibitions of Chinese fossils.The research team ran the most extensive phylogenetic analysis of Cretaceous lizards ever conducted and showed that all known Cretaceous species were more closely related to each other than to any modern lineage.Details of the study ...
