Large pelvic bones and dorsal vertebrae of an ancient predator are found during excavations on the south-west coast of Britain’s Isle of Wight. A research team assigns them to a Spinosaurus. This makes it possibly the largest hunting dinosaur ever discovered in Europe.
A team of researchers has found remains of an animal believed to be one of the largest hunting dinosaurs ever discovered in Europe on Britain’s Isle of Wight. The bones, believed to be from a so-called Spinosaurus, were found on the southwest coast of the Isle of Wight, the research team told the journal PeerJ Life
“It was a huge animal, more than 10 meters long, and judging by the dimensions possibly the largest hunting dinosaur ever discovered in Europe,” said the team’s PhD student and lead author, Chris Baker, of the University of Southampton. The fossils — which include pelvic bones and vertebrae — come from a two-legged dinosaur with a crocodile-like head, the university writes. From the remains it can be seen that after the death a number of scavengers preyed on the Spinosaurus.
Last year, the researchers from Southampton had already published findings on the study of two similar species. The new find supports the notion that Spinosaurus originally came from western Europe, where it split into several species before spreading further, the researchers write. They now want to examine thin layers of the found materials under the microscope to find out the age and other information about the growth of the predator. The Isle of Wight lies off the south coast of England and has geological formations, some of which have layers that are many millions of years old.
