Forgotten skull fossil turns out to be new dinosaur species
A museum specimen stored in London since 1924 has turned out to be a European megaraptor.
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Researchers have described a new predatory dinosaur based on a skull fossil that lay in the Natural History Museum’s collection for almost a century. The species, named Invictibellatrix amberina, is according to the researchers the first megaraptor found in Europe.
The fossil was acquired by the Natural History Museum in 1924 and consisted of part of the rear of a skull. Using computed tomography, researchers created a three-dimensional model of the bone and of the space occupied by the brain and spinal cord.
The researchers compared its shape with the skulls of tyrannosaurs, spinosaurs and other bipedal predatory dinosaurs. A combination of features, including a distinctive opening and an hourglass-shaped crest, indicated according to the study an as-yet undescribed species within the megaraptor group.
Invictibellatrix lived around 120 million years ago on what is now the Isle of Wight. The researchers estimate that the animal was three to four metres long. The species was probably much smaller than later giant megaraptors and may have had feathers and claws measuring around 10 to 20 centimetres.
The find is particularly relevant to the group’s distribution. Megaraptors were already known from, among other places, Asia, Australia and South America, but a European find was missing. The new fossil supports the hypothesis that the group could have spread during the Early Cretaceous via Europe to the southern landmass of Gondwana.
The study was published in Royal Society Open Science and is therefore peer-reviewed research, but palaeontological conclusions remain dependent on limited fossil evidence. This is one partial skull fossil; statements about feathers, behaviour and the precise migration route are reconstructions based on comparisons and models, not direct observations.
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The species name, origin of the fossil, publication status and main conclusions were checked directly with the Natural History Museum and Royal Society Open Science. Speculative reconstructions have not been presented as established facts.
- confirmed The fossil was acquired by the Natural History Museum in 1924. — Mentioned in the museum’s press release. source
- confirmed The new species is called Invictibellatrix amberina. — The species name appears in the museum’s report and the scientific publication. source
- confirmed This is the first known megaraptor from Europe. — The Natural History Museum describes the find as the first European megaraptor. source
- confirmed The species lived around 120 million years ago and was three to four metres long. — These estimates appear in the museum’s report. source
- confirmed The study was published as peer-reviewed research in Royal Society Open Science. — The publication is included in the journal and linked by the museum. source
Editor's note
The species description and the age of the fossil have been confirmed by the museum and the peer-reviewed publication. Statements about feathers, behaviour and migration are presented as probabilities and scientific reconstructions.Sources
- UK dinosaur fossil identified as new long-clawed predator — Natural History Museum
- A new megaraptoran dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Wessex Formation, UK, and its implications for theropod evolution and biogeography — Royal Society Open Science
- Dinosaur named new species 102 years after fossil found on Isle of Wight — ScienceX
More on this in Dutch media
- De Telegraaf — „dinosauriërs paleontologie”
- AD — „dinosauriërs paleontologie”
- de Volkskrant — „dinosauriërs paleontologie”