Paleontologists in Vietnam's Lang Son province have announced the discovery of a new species of feathered theropod, nicknamed the "Dwarf Dragon." Dating back to the Early Cretaceous period, roughly 140 million years ago, the fossilized skeleton is exceptionally preserved, showing clear impressions of primitive feathers along the tail and neck.
This species is a very distant, small relative of the Tyrannosaurus rex and provides critical data on the evolution of plumage and predatory behavior in smaller dinosaurs. The find suggests that Southeast Asia was a biodiversity hotspot for early theropods long before the dominance of the giant tyrannosaurids in North America.