BBC General
Posted on 06/10/2022 14:33
Dinosaur hunting bipedal with a crocodile face – and measuring over 10 m in length – (Credit: AFP)
Fossils of a dinosaur living on Europe’s largest land have been found on the White Island in England.
Ancient researchers at the University of Southampton in the UK have identified the remains of an organism that is more than 10 meters long and lived 125 million years ago.
Prehistoric fossils belong to the two-legged, crocodile-faced, predatory spinosaur dinosaur.
According to Chris Parker, a doctoral student who led the research, it is a “big animal”.
Remains, including the hip and calf vertebrae, were found off the southwest coast of the Isle of Wight.
The carnivore was nicknamed the “White Rock Spinosaurid” because of the geological layer in which its fossils were found.
“It is a large animal, over 10 meters long and weighs many tons,” Parker said.
“By some dimensions, it represents one of the largest predatory dinosaurs ever found in Europe – perhaps even the largest known.”
He lived at the beginning of the sea level rise and wandered in lakes and sandy plains in search of food.
“As it is currently known only from fragments, we did not give it a proper scientific name. We hope that additional remains will appear in a timely manner,” said Darren Naish, co-author of the research.
Most of the fossils were discovered by the Isle of Wight dinosaur hunter Nick Chase, who died shortly before the Kovit-19 epidemic.
“I searched for fossils of this dinosaur with Nick, and found a waist with holes drilled – each about the size of my index finger,” said Jeremy Lockwood, another co-author of the study. University of Portsmouth at the University of Portsmouth UK and Museum of Natural History.
“We think they were caused by the bone-eating larvae of a type of scavenger beetle. It is interesting to think that this giant killer turned into food for a few insects.”
The discovery follows previous work by the University of Southampton team on spinosurids, which published a study on the discovery of two new species in 2021.
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