World’s ‘smallest dinosaur’ is actually a LIZARD scientists admit in retraction of study

Amber, often used in jewellery, is fossilised tree resin, and the oldest dates back more than 300 million years.

In the past few years the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar, formerly Burma, has yielded numerous finds.

In January 2017, researchers discovered a 100-million-year-old insect preserved in amber which bore a passing resemblance to ET. 

Its features were so odd and unique that researchers placed in into a new scientific order of insects.

The creature had a triangular head and bulging eyes, which is different from any other known species of insect.

The eyes on the side of its head would have given it the ability to see at almost 180 degrees by simply turning its head to the side.

Because of its uniqueness, the insect was assigned its own brand new scientific classification order – called Aethiocarenodea.    

In June 2017, researchers revealed a stunning hatchling trapped in amber, which they believe was just a few days old when it fell into a pool of sap oozing from a conifer tree in Myanmar.

The incredible find showed the head, neck, wing, tail and feet of a now extinct bird which lived at the time of the dinosaurs, 100 million years ago, in unprecedented detail.

Researchers nicknamed the young enantiornithine ‘Belone’, after a Burmese name for the amber-hued Oriental skylark.

The hatchling belonged to a group of birds known as the ‘opposite birds’ that lived alongside the ancestors of modern bird. 

Archaeologists say they were actually more diverse and successful – until they died out with the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

They had major differences from today’s birds, and their  shoulders and feet had grown quite differently to those of modern birds. 

In December 2017, experts discovered incredible ancient fossils of a tick grasping a dinosaur feather and another – dubbed ‘Dracula’s terrible tick’ – swollen after gorging on blood.

The first evidence that dinosaurs had bloodsucking parasites living on them was found preserved in 99 million-year-old Burmese amber.

The newly-discovered tick dates from the Cretaceous period of 145 to 66 million years ago.