The 99 million year-old tail feather of a small dinosaur encased in amber found in a market in Myanmar by a Chinese scientist is one of the best proofs yet that dinosaurs did indeed have feathers.

The tiny bit of amber the size of an eraser bought in 2015 by Lida Xing, a paleontologist at China University of Geosciences in Beijing, was believed by the people who dug it out of a mine to be a kind of plant and were trying to sell it to be made into jewelry.

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Xing, however, realized what it really was -- the tip of a preserved dinosaur tail section - after a closer look. Further examination using sophisticated scanning and microscopic equipment confirmed the 36 mm long feather complete with bones, flesh, and skin encased in amber did indeed come from a dinosaur.

The tail consisted of eight vertebrae, soft tissue and feathers preserved in three dimensions.

Scientists believe the tail belonged to a type of two-legged, bird-like dinosaur called a "maniraptoran," a type of feathered coelurosaurian dinosaur that includes birds and non-avian dinosaurs.  Coelurosaurian dinosaurs are closely related to the Tyrannosaurus rex and Velociraptor.

Birds, which first appeared about 150 million years ago during the Jurassic Period, evolved from small, feathered dinosaurs such as this one.

"I have studied paleontology for more than 10 years and have been interested in dinosaurs for more than 30 years," said Xing.

"But I never expected we could find a dinosaur in amber. This may be the coolest find in my life. The feathers on the tail are so dense and regular. This is really wonderful."

Scientists have named the baby coelurosaur from which the feather came from as "Eva." Scientists say Eva was so small she could stand on the palm of your hand.

"This is the first of its kind," said paleontologist Ryan McKellar of the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Canada, one of the researchers involved in the study published in the journal Current Biology. "I'm blown away."

"It's a spectacular little glimpse," McKellar says. "It gives us, basically, a pathway that gets us to modern feathers."

Tagsdinosaur, feathers, maniraptoran, Coelurosaurian dinosaurs, Lida Xing, China University of Geosciences, Ryan McKellar, Royal Saskatchewan Museum