New dinosaur species identified from Isle of Wight fossil

Summarised from BBC Hampshire's report · Updated 14 Oct, 08:44 · Archive

A new dinosaur species has been identified from a fossil discovered on the Isle of Wight over a century ago.

A new species of dinosaur has been identified from a fossil found on the south-west coast of the Isle of Wight more than 100 years ago. Named Invictibellatrix amberina, it is described in a paper published in the journal Royal Society Open Science and lived in the Early Cretaceous period about 120 million years ago.

The fossil, a chunk of the back of a skull, was originally found by amateur palaeontologist Reginald Walter Tooley and was acquired by the Natural History Museum in 1924. Dr Cassius Morrison of University College London said it was a 'real mystery' why the fossil had been overlooked in the museum until now. Researchers undertook a CT scan of the fossil to identify it.

Invictibellatrix, meaning 'unconquered female warrior', was three to four metres long and about 1.5 metres tall. It would have had feathers and claws about 10cm to 20cm long. It belonged to a group of two-legged carnivores called megaraptorans, which were closely related to tyrannosaurs but hunted with their arms and claws rather than their jaws. It would have eaten small dinosaurs, lizards and mammals, occupying a similar ecological role to modern hyenas.

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• Island fossil identified as new dinosaur speciesInvictibellatrix would have been up to four metres long with feathers and had 20cm claws.BBC Hampshire · 14 Oct, 06:09

In this story: Invictibellatrix amberina · Isle of Wight · Natural History Museum · University College London · Reginald Walter Tooley · Cassius Morrison

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