Researchers made a very special discovery in the south of England. A previously completely unknown dinosaur with 149 bones was discovered. It is the eighth species of dinosaur discovered on the Isle of Wight in the past five years.
With 149 bones, the find is the most complete dinosaur skeleton found in Britain in a century, according to a report by Britain’s PA news agency. The animal, whose species has been named “Comptonatus Chasei”, was found on the Isle of Wight, an island in southern England known for its rich fossil deposits.
Considered a herbivore
The name is a combination of the place where it was found, Compton Bay, and the name of the late explorer Nick Chase. The dinosaur – a herbivore that weighed a ton and was about the size of a male bison – lived about 125 million years ago.
“Comptonatus Chasei” belonged to the Iguanodontia group and probably lived in herds, suggested by dinosaur footprints found nearby, Jeremy Lockwood said, according to PA. “It is possible that large herds of these dinosaurs shook the floodplains here when they were startled by predators,” the researcher said.
Ecosystems with the greatest diversity
The PhD candidate studied the fossil at the University of Portsmouth. He says the discovery shows that the Isle of Wight and surrounding areas were once among the most diverse ecosystems in the world. Scientists hope the discovery, published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, will provide information about how habitats recovered after a mass extinction at the end of the Jurassic period.
The fossil points to rapid evolution among iguanodont dinosaurs, PA paleontologist Susannag Maidment of the National History Museum in London quoted.
Source: Krone
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