Dr Cassius Morrison and researchers identified a new dinosaur fossil from the Isle of Wight as Invictibellatrix amberina, a species now recognized as the first known megaraptoran found in Europe. The skull fragment had been acquired in 1924 and sat overlooked for nearly 100 years before the new paper in Royal Society Open Science placed it in context.
The fossil is a chunk of the back of a skull from a carnivorous dinosaur that lived on the Isle of Wight in the Early Cretaceous, about 120 million years ago. Its classification matters because megaraptorans are rare, and the European record now has one more named animal from a group long known mostly from other parts of the world.
Natural History Museum and UCL Earth Sciences
Paul Barrett, the senior author from the Natural History Museum, said the island still produces new dinosaur species even after more than 200 years of collecting. He said, “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.”
Barrett 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 had been cared for by the Natural History Museum before Morrison studied it for the new paper.
Invictibellatrix amberina in Europe
Megaraptorans were agile, two-legged carnivores related to tyrannosaurs including Tyrannosaurus rex, but they attacked prey with large arms and giant curved claws rather than jaws. Researchers and said Invictibellatrix is one of the smallest and earliest megaraptorans known.
Morrison said, “Based on what we know about its closest relatives, 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. It would likely have had feathers and its claws might have been about 10cm to 20cm long. It would have eaten small dinosaurs, lizards and mammals – occupying a similar role in the food chain to the hyena today.”
He added, “It is a real mystery that this fossil was overlooked for so long, sitting in a drawer for nearly 100 years. Lots of bones are found on the Isle of Wight – who knows what else is waiting to be discovered.” The unanswered scientific question now is whether similar skull features in other stored fossils will place more long-overlooked bones into the megaraptoran line.
