Paleontologists at the University of Southampton have spent months on four bones found last year in the village of Shanklin, on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England.
Scientists named the dinosaur Vectaerovenator inopinatus – a name that refers to large air sacs in some of the bones, which are often seen in theropods, and which helped the researchers identify the species. The socks are also seen in modern birds; they probably helped create an efficient respiratory system in these dinosaurs, while also making the skeleton lighter.
“We were told by how hollow this animal was – it’s confusing with air spaces. Parts of the skeleton must have been quite delicate,” said Chris Barker, a university graduate who led the study. “The record of theropod dinosaurs from the Middle Cretaceous in Europe is not that great, so it has been really exciting to increase our understanding of the variety of dinosaur species from this time.”
The four bones were found last year by several different groups. This study confirmed that those separate bones were probably from the same dinosaur, which probably lived north of where its bones were found; the researchers speculate that the carcass was washed in the shallow sea nearby.
The team’s findings will be published in the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
Paul Farrell, from the Isle of Wight town of Ryde, was one of the people who fell over the bones. “I walked along the beach, kicked rocks and came across what looked like a bone of a dinosaur. I was really shocked to find out that it could be a new species,” he said in the release.
The other two people who found the bones were both fossil hunters. The Isle of Wight is one of the top locations for dinosaur remains and fossils in Europe, and is home to the Dinosaur Isle Museum, where all the lucky fossil hunters brought the bones of Vectaerovenator.
They will now be displayed in the museum.
“This remarkable discovery of connected fossils by three different individuals and groups will add to the extensive collection we have, and it’s amazing, now we can confirm their meaning and show them to the public to see. wonder, “said Martin Munt, the museum curator.
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