The best-preserved bones of the Wight Rock spinosaurid, including a tail vertebra that helped indicate its massive size
A giant crocodile-faced dinosaur discovered on the Isle of Wight by one of Britain’s best fossil hunters was probably the largest predator in Europe, scientists said on Thursday.
Most of the bones of the two-legged spinosaur were found by the late local collector Nick Chase, who devoted his life to combing the beaches of the island off the south coast of England to find dinosaur remains.
“This was a huge animal, over 10 meters (33 feet) long, and judging by its size, it probably represents the largest predatory dinosaur ever found in Europe,” said Chris Barker, a doctoral student who he directed the study.
Thomas Richard Holtz, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Maryland not involved in the study, agreed that the new find “appears to be larger” than a huge predator whose fossilized remains were discovered in Portugal.
The White Rock Spinosaurid, which researchers hope to formally name as a new species, is from the early Cretaceous period and is estimated to be about 125 million years old.
Spinosaurids are known for their elongated heads. Instead of having the carcass skull of a tyrannosaurus rex, their faces look more like those of a crocodile.
“They’re like storks and herons, which go in and snatch fish from the surface,” Barker said.
“It helps to start painting a picture of what animals lived at the time, which is a very poorly known part of the English paleontological heritage,” Barker added.
“This new animal reinforces our previous argument, published last year, that spinosaurid dinosaurs originated and diversified in Western Europe before spreading further,” said study co-author Darren Naish.
Paleontologists paid tribute to Chase, who always donated the bones he found in museums.
Barker said Chase’s “strange ability” to find bones showed that “it’s not just professional paleontologists who have impacts on the discipline.”
And if there were any aspirants to hunt fossils in hopes of picking up where Chase left off, paleontologists would welcome more White Rock spinosaur bones.
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Originally published as “Europe’s largest predatory dinosaur” found by a UK fossil hunter