Cassius Morrison of UCL Earth Sciences described a new dinosaur species from an Isle of Wight fossil: Invictibellatrix amberina, the first known megaraptoran found in Europe. The specimen had been in the Natural History Museum collection since 1924 and sat overlooked for nearly 100 years before the study reached it.
Based on the fossil, Morrison said Invictibellatrix would have been three to four metres long and just over a metre and a half in height, about as tall as a human. He added that it would likely have had feathers and claws about 10cm to 20cm long.
Natural History Museum and UCL Earth
The fossil is a chunk of the back of a skull from the Isle of Wight, where Invictibellatrix lived around 120 million years ago in the Early Cretaceous. The dinosaur belonged to megaraptorans, a group of agile, two-legged carnivores closely related to tyrannosaurs including Tyrannosaurus rex.
Megaraptorans are known for slender heads and for attacking prey with large arms and giant curved claws rather than their jaws. Morrison said Invictibellatrix would have eaten small dinosaurs, lizards and mammals, and he compared that role in the food chain to the hyena today.
Paul Barrett and Isle of Wight
Paul Barrett, the study's senior author from the Natural History Museum, said the island still keeps producing new finds. “Despite over 200 years of collecting, the Isle of Wight continues to surprise us with new dinosaur species, and finds of carnivorous dinosaurs, such as Invictibellatrix, have been particularly elusive.”
He also said, “Work like this shows the exceptional value of working with historical museum collections where there are still many discoveries to be made.”
The fossil's long delay added to the significance of the identification. Morrison said, “It is a real mystery that this fossil was overlooked for so long, sitting in a drawer for nearly 100 years.”
Royal Society Open Science
The study places the animal in a part of dinosaur history that had not previously been documented in Europe. Morrison said, “It would likely have had feathers and its claws might have been about 10cm to 20cm long.” He also said, “We would have been perfectly sized prey, about a third of their body weight.”
The next question is what other bones from the Isle of Wight collections may still hold similar surprises, since this skull fragment was enough to identify a new species and extend the known European record of megaraptorans.
