Scientist puts his finger on a dinosaur with one digit

[First published on 14 February, 2011] A scientist from Hong Kong has revealed how he literally stumbled over a new species of carnivorous dinosaur during an expedition on the mainland.

It is the first dinosaur known with only one finger on each forelimb.

Michael Pittman, 25, a PhD student at University College London, discovered the parrot-sized species - called Linhenykus monodactylus - during a trip led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which set out to look for new species near the border between Mongolia and the mainland.

'Towards the end of the trip, we were a little frustrated we hadn't found anything,' he said. 'We were walking across the desert where you get lots of small hammocks and red sandstone. As we were walking my friend said: 'Hold on Michael. Don't put your foot down.'

'Then I lifted my foot up and there were little bits of white bone. We got down on our knees and picked up the bits. I picked up one bit from the tail and I immediately knew it was part of the tail of something special.'

Its significance only became clear that evening at the camp, when a team member said the dinosaur might have had only one digit. This feature makes the specimen the only known dinosaur of its kind.

Pittman said the shape of the finger, like a digging tool, was a hint it was for digging out insect nests.