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New Dinosaur Species with a Sail Found on the Isle of Wight

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LONDON – A former graduate student who studied fossils dating back 125 million years has made a significant discovery by identifying a new species of dinosaur characterized by sails on its back.

Survey results, published in the Paleontology Journal on Friday, link this discovery to fossils first unearthed on the Isle of Wight, an island off the southern coast of England, during the 1970s.

Initially, these fossil bones were believed to belong to one of two known species of the Iguanodon type found on the island. However, retired doctor Jeremy Lockwood remarked he observed a peculiar difference in the spinal structure of the fossils while pursuing his doctoral studies in paleontology at the University of Portsmouth.

Having a medical background, Lockwood noted that these dinosaurs exhibited an unusually tall neurospinus.

After meticulously examining several bones in the collections of Dinosaur Island on the Isle of Wight and reviewing existing literature, he concluded that this specimen is a completely distinct species.

Although the skeletons were less complete than other known specimens, Lockwood stated in a release from the Museum of Natural History in London that the bones had not received adequate attention prior to his analysis.

Detailed images of two consecutive dorsal vertebrae of the macarserae vertebral musculoskeletal.
Via Wiley Online Library

“It was incredible,” Lockwood shared with NBC News in a phone interview on Friday. “We discovered that 125 million years ago, the diversity of dinosaurs was far greater than we had previously thought.”

The exact purpose of the sails in dinosaurs has sparked long-standing debates, with theories ranging from temperature control to fat storage.

Several other dinosaur species are also known to possess sails.

For this new species, “the most plausible explanation for the sail is visual signaling, likely as part of a sexual display often influenced by mate selection,” Lockwood noted.

“For me, the thrill lies in naming the dinosaurs,” Lockwood added.

Lockwood, as the lead author of the paper, named the new dinosaur Istiorachis macarthurae. The term Isthiolatis is derived from the ancient Greek words meaning “sail spine,” referring to the tall sail-like formations along the creature’s back.

Macarthurae pays tribute to the well-known island resident Ellen MacArthur, who is also a sailor from the Isle of Wight.

“It’s certainly not an everyday occurrence to be asked if a newly identified dinosaur can bear your name!” MacArthur said in a statement.

“I was quite taken aback when this conversation started, but I felt incredibly honored to be asked.”

“It’s extraordinary and a great privilege that a creature from 125 million years ago could share my last name,” MacArthur remarked.

“The notion that it could rival the sails I’ve spent much of my life beneath was truly touching.”

“125 million years ago, this dinosaur also inhabited the island,” Lockwood said. “I prefer naming dinosaurs in a way that connects them to the Isle of Wight, as it holds significant paleontological importance.”

The new species is relatively small by dinosaur standards, comparable in size to an American bison.

According to Lockwood, this discovery adds to a legacy of findings on the island, which has seen the identification of 10 new dinosaur species over the past six years.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Researchers unearth massive dinosaur tracks dating back 167 million years on the Isle of Skye

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Paleontologists have discovered 131 large theropods and sauropods in the formations of the central Jurassic Kirmalag at Prince Charles’s point, located on the northwest coast of the Troternas Peninsula in Sky.

A 167 million-year-old dinosaur trackway located at Prince Charles’s point on the Isle of Skye. Image credit: Blakesley et al. , doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0319862.

The rocks of Isle of Skye are rich in dinosaur footprints, providing insight into the distribution and behavior of dinosaurs at critical times of evolution.

The newly discovered footprint was left in the wavy sands of an ancient subtropical lagoon dating back to the mid-Jurassic period about 167 million years ago.

The footprint is 25-60 cm long and comes in two types. This is a round “Tyre-Size” track, made by three untidy trucks left by Bipedal: a carnivorous theropod, a tetrapod, and a long-necked sauropod.

Based on comparisons with previous fossil discoveries, the most likely truck maker is Megalosaurus Similar to early branching members of the Neosauropod group CethiosaurusBoth are known from British skeletal ruins.

According to paleontologists, many of these footprints occur together in successive steps.

The longest of these trackways is over 12m, among the longest known examples from the Isle of Skye.

The spacing and orientation of these trackways represent slow walking without consistent orientation or interaction with each other, and what is probably left by the dinosaurs is casually crushed at slightly different times.

The site at Prince Charles’s point supports previous evidence that the Jurassic Sauropod frequently visited Scottish lagoons.

However, this site contains a higher percentage of theropod tracks than similar locales, perhaps indicating differences in the environment between these ancient lagoons.

The site also does not have footprints from other dinosaurs such as Stegosaurus and Ornithopods, but it remains unclear whether these animals really do not exist in this environment or simply did not leave a mark on this site.

“Prince Charles’s footprint at points provides fascinating insight into the behavior and environmental distribution of meat-eating theropods and plant-eating long-necked sauropods during key periods of evolution.”

“In Sky, these dinosaurs obviously preferred shallow, submerged lagoon environments to muddy air exposed.”

“Interestingly, this site also has historical significance as a location for Skye, where Prince Bonnie landed and hidden while flying through Scotland following the Battle of Culloden.”

Discoveries are reported in a paper Published online in the journal PLOS 1.

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T. Blakely et al. 2025. A new central Jurassic Lagoon margin assembly of theropod and sauropod dinosaur trajectories from the Isle of Skye, Scotland. PLOS 1 20(4): E0319862; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0319862

Source: www.sci.news

Iguanodont dinosaur unearthed on the Isle of Wight

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New genus and species of iguanodont dinosaur named Comptonatus chasei It was explained by PhD student Jeremy Lockwood and colleagues at the University of Portsmouth.

Reconstructing your life Comptonatus chaseiImage courtesy of John Sibbick.

Comptonatus chasei It roamed the Earth during the Early Cretaceous Period, about 125 million years ago.

“The animal would have weighed about a tonne, making it similar in size to a large male American bison,” Lockwood said.

“Evidence from nearby fossil footprints indicates that this dinosaur likely lived in groups, so it’s possible that predators surprised large groups of these heavy dinosaurs on the floodplains more than 120 million years ago.”

Comptonatus chasei was a member of Iguanodontsis a highly successful group of ornithischian dinosaurs that probably appeared during the late Middle Jurassic.

“Comptonatus chasei “This is a fantastic dinosaur specimen – one of the most complete found in the UK in a century,” said Dr Susanna Maidment, a palaeontologist at London’s Natural History Museum.

“This specimen, Brigstone but, Mantellisaurus (Two species of Iguandontian dinosaurs are Comptonatus chasei“Our results indicate the rapid evolution of iguanodontian dinosaurs during this period and help us understand how ecosystems recovered after the presumed end-Jurassic extinction event.”

Fossilized remains Comptonatus chasei What was found was Wessex Layer It was discovered in 2013 on the Isle of Wight by fossil collector Nick Chase.

“Comptonatus chasei “This is one of the most complete iguanodont dinosaurs, including its skull, ever found in the UK,” the palaeontologists said.

In the entire 1900s, only four new species of dinosaur were discovered on the Isle of Wight, but in the past five years eight new species have been named.

“This is a really surprising discovery,” Lockwood said.

“This helps us to better understand the different types of dinosaurs that lived in Britain during the Early Cretaceous period.”

“This adds to recent research showing that Wessex was one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world.”

of Investigation result this week, Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.

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Jeremy A.F. Lockwood others2024. Comptonatus chaseiA new iguanodontid dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight in southern England. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 22(1); doi:10.1080/14772019.2024.2346573

Source: www.sci.news