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Unusual New Species of Dinosaur Discovered – “We Were Struck by Just How Hollow This Animal Was” - SciTechDaily
Aug 11, 2020 2 mins, 2 secs
By University of Southampton,.

Scientists in Southampton believe four bones recently found on the Isle of Wight belong to a new species of theropod dinosaur.

A new study by Palaeontologists at the University of Southampton suggests four bones recently found on the Isle of Wight belong to new species of theropod dinosaur, the group that includes Tyrannosaurus rex and modern-day birds.

The bones were discovered on the foreshore at Shanklin last year and are from the neck, back, and tail of the new dinosaur, which has been named Vectaerovenator inopinatus.

The name refers to the large air spaces in some of the bones, one of the traits that helped the scientists identify its theropod origins.

The fossils were found over a period of weeks in 2019 in three separate discoveries, two by individuals and one by a family group, who all handed in their finds to the nearby Dinosaur Isle Museum at Sandown.

The scientific study has confirmed the fossils are very likely to be from the same individual dinosaur, with the exact location and timing of the finds adding to this belief.

I thought they were special and so took them along when we visited Dinosaur Isle Museum.

For further images, please contact the University of Southampton.

Credit: University of Southampton.

Paul Farrell, from Ryde, Isle of Wight, added: “I was walking along the beach, kicking stones and came across what looked like a bone from a dinosaur.

After studying the four vertebrae, paleontologists from the University of Southampton confirmed that the bones are likely to belong to a genus of dinosaur previously unknown to science.

Their findings will be published in the journal Papers in Palaeontology, in a paper co-authored by those who discovered the fossils.

The Isle of Wight is renowned as one of the top locations for dinosaur remains in Europe, and the new Vectaerovenator fossils will now go on display at the Dinosaur Isle Museum at Sandown, which houses an internationally important collection.

“We continue to undertake public field trips from the museum and would encourage anyone who finds unusual fossils to bring them in so we can take a closer look.

The paper ‘A highly pneumatic ‘mid Cretaceous’ theropod from the British Lower Greensand’ by Chris Barker and those who discovered the fossils will be published in Papers in Palaeontology

The authors and University of Southampton have made their findings ‘open access.’

August 7, 2020

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