Scipionyx

What it was like

Scipionyx is known from a single fossil, a young juvenile with an extraordinary level of preservation. Traces of its muscles, intestines, and other soft tissue survived alongside the bones, letting scientists study internal anatomy that is almost never preserved in dinosaurs. It was a small, bipedal predator with a long tail for balance. Half-digested remains in its gut show that it had recently eaten lizards and fish. Because such tissue rarely survives fossilization, the specimen is considered one of the most important dinosaur fossils ever found.

Its world

Scipionyx lived from about 113 to 110 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous, in what is now Italy. It was the first dinosaur ever found in the country, and remains one of the few known from there. No other dinosaurs are confirmed from the same rocks, so little is known yet about the animals it may have lived alongside.

How it was found

Dal Sasso and Signore named Scipionyx in 1996. Because the only known fossil is a very young juvenile, its adult size and appearance are unknown, and its exact classification is still debated. Most paleontologists place it among the compsognathids, a family of small, lightly built theropods, though not all agree.