A new study led by Queen Mary University of London suggests that the remains found on the Isle of Wight belong to two new species of spinosaurids , a group of predatory theropod dinosaurs closely related to the giant Spinosaurus. The loot of bones was discovered on the beach near Brighstone, England over a period of several years.
Early Cretaceous
125 million years ago two previously unknown species of dinosaurs roamed the Isle of Wight. Among the loot of more than 50 dinosaur bones found on the Isle of Wight (Wessex Formation), the two previously undescribed dinosaur species. One has been dubbed Ceratosuchops inferodios (horned crocodile-faced hell heron) and hunts like a modern heron. Herons capture aquatic prey on the margins of waterways, but their diet is much more flexible than is generally believed, and can also include terrestrial prey. The second has been named Riparovenator milnerae, which translates to ‘Milner’s riparian hunter’, in honor of the recently deceased British paleontologist Angela Milner.
Both species were nine meters long and had skulls like those of today’s crocodiles . Scientists believe their physiology would have helped them find prey in both aquatic and terrestrial environments, and they had strikingly similar diets.
“It may sound strange to have two similar and closely related carnivores in an ecosystem, but this is actually very common for both dinosaurs and numerous living ecosystems,” says David Hone of Queen Mary University of London, co-author of the published research. the journal Scientific Reports.
According to the lead author of the new study, paleontologist Chris Barker of the University of Southampton, the skulls of the newly found bones differ “not just from Baryonyx – the only spinosaur skeleton previously unearthed in the UK, which was initially discovered in 1983. in a Surrey quarry – but also with each other, suggesting greater animal diversity . “
Two colossal dinosaurs
Although their skeletons are incomplete, the researchers estimate that the dinosaurs were around thirty feet long and captured their prey with their gigantic one meter long head.
Most previous dinosaur finds since the Baryonyx discovery have been limited to isolated teeth and individual bones, so experts believe the UK is home to a greater diversity of spinosaurids than previously thought.
The study authors suggest that spinosaurids may have evolved first in Europe, before dispersing in Asia, Africa and South America.
The new fossils will be on display at the Dinosaur Isle Museum in Sandown, Isle of Wight.
Referencia: “New spinosaurids from the Wessex Formation (Early Cretaceous, UK) and the European origins of Spinosauridae” has been published in Scientific Reports with DOI 10.1038/s41598-021-97870-87e0f25c8-6f71-4fde-b0a3-51ae780d063e.
