Researchers Discover New Dinosaur Species in Britain
On an island in southern England, researchers have discovered a new species of dinosaur, marking the most complete find in a long time. This discovery could help solve the mystery of a planetary mass extinction.
A skeleton of an unknown dinosaur species has been discovered in the United Kingdom. According to a statement from the British Natural History Museum, the find, consisting of 149 bones, is the most complete dinosaur skeleton discovered in Britain in a century.
The bones were found on the Isle of Wight in southern England, an area known for its rich fossil deposits. This is the eighth new species identified by researchers on the island in the past five years. The dinosaur has been named Comptonatus chasei.
Telltale Footprints
The name derives from the discovery location, Compton Bay, and the late discoverer, Nick Chase. Chase discovered the bones in 2013, but the find was only recently published in the journal Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.
The dinosaur, a herbivore about the size of a male bison, lived approximately 125 million years ago. It belonged to the Iguanodontia group and was likely a herd animal, as indicated by dinosaur footprints found near the discovery site, said study author Jeremy Lockwood.
According to Lockwood, the find shows that the Isle of Wight and surrounding areas once belonged to some of the planet’s most diverse ecosystems. Scientists hope the discovery will provide information on how habitats recovered after a mass extinction at the end of the Jurassic period.
Recent discoveries suggest that the Iguanodontia formed a diverse group, Lockwood said. “It’s unclear whether they evolved faster than previously thought or if many species coexisted simultaneously.”
