Illustration of Anthony Hutchings’s White Rock Hawthorn. Credit: UoS / A Hutchings
Despite a land area of only 384 km2 (148 square miles), the Isle of Wight, an island off England, is one of the richest dinosaur locations in Europe. In fact, more than 20 species of dinosaurs have been found there since the early Cretaceous period, including some that were first identified on the island.
Spinosaurids are a family of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs that originated in the Jurassic period and played a leading role during the Cretaceous period. Paleontologists have found spinosaurid fossils in many parts of the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and Australia.
Research conducted by paleontologists at the University of Southampton has identified the remains of one of the largest land hunters in Europe: a dinosaur that was more than 10 meters long and lived about 125 million years ago.
Several prehistoric bones, discovered on the Isle of Wight off the south coast of England and housed in the Dinosaur Isle Museum in Sandown, belonged to a type of two-legged predatory dinosaur with a crocodile face known as a spinosaurid. Called the White Rock Spinoaurid, after the geological layer where it was found, it was a predator of impressive proportions.
“This was a huge animal, over 10 m long and probably several tons in weight. Judging by some of its dimensions, it appears to represent one of the largest predatory dinosaurs ever found in Europe, perhaps even the largest known to date, “said doctoral student Chris Barker, who led the study. “It’s a shame it’s only known from a small amount of material, but these are enough to prove he was an immense creature.”
Position of the best-preserved spinosaurid bones. Credits: Chris Barker / Dan Folkes
The discovery follows previous work on spinosaurids by the University of Southampton team, which published a study on the discovery of two new species in 2021.
White rock spinosaurid bones, including large pelvic and tail vertebrae, among other pieces, were discovered near Compton Chine, on the southwest coast of the Isle of Wight. Cretaceous rocks are famous for their dinosaurs, but little is known about the fact that the island’s fossil record preserves dinosaurs from more than one section of history, and some of these sections are still little known today.
“Unusually, this specimen was eroded from the Vectis Formation, which is notoriously poor in dinosaur fossils,” said the author, Dr. Neil Gostling, who teaches evolution and paleobiology at the University of Southampton. “It is likely to be the youngest known spinosaur material in the UK to date.”
Close-up of the anterior tail (left) and dorsal vertebrae (right). Credit: Chris Barker
The 125-million-year-old Vectis Formation marks the beginning of a period of rising sea levels, where the white rock spinosaurus chased the waters of the lagoon and the sandy plains in search. of food.
“Because it’s only known in fragments at the moment, we haven’t given it a formal scientific name,” said co-author Darren Naish. He added: “We expect additional remnants to appear in time.
“This new animal reinforces our previous argument, published last year, that spinosaurid dinosaurs originated and diversified in Western Europe before spreading further.”
The marks on the bone also showed how, even after death, the body of this giant probably supported a number of scavengers and decomposers.
“Most of these incredible fossils were found by Nick Chase, one of Britain’s most skilled dinosaur hunters, who sadly died just before the Covid epidemic,” said co-author Jeremy Lockwood, a doctoral student. at the University of Portsmouth and the Museum of Natural History. “I was looking for the remains of this dinosaur with Nick and I found a piece of pelvis with boring tunnels, each the size of my index finger. We think they were caused by bone-eating larvae of a scavenger beetle type. It’s an interesting thought that this giant killer has become a food for a lot of insects. “
Researchers hope to generate thin sections of the material to observe the microscopic internal properties of the bones in the near future, which may provide information about their growth rate and possible age.
For more information on this discovery, see Europe’s largest terrestrial predator discovered on the Isle of Wight.
Reference: “A European giant: a large spinosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Vectis Formation (Wealden Group, Early Cretacious), UK” by Chris T. Barker, Jeremy AF Lockwood, Darren Naish, Sophie Brown, Amy Hart, Ethan Tulloch and Neil J. Gostling, June 9, 2022, PeerJ.DOI: 10.7717 / peerj.13543