Prehistoric remains of a 32ft land-based 'giant killer' dinosaur found on Isle of Wight

Virgin Radio

10 Jun 2022, 10:17

Roar-some news. A 10 metres long being has been found on the Isle of Wight. Or should that be Isle of Fright? The bones of Europe’s largest ever land-based 'giant-killer' hunter are thought to have lived a whopping 125 million years ago.

Prehistoric remains have been unearthed by the University of Southampton belonging to a 'two-legged, crocodile-faced spinosaurid dinosaur' off the south coast.

PhD student Chris Barker said: "This was a huge animal, exceeding 10m (32.8ft) in length and probably several tonnes in weight.

"Judging from some of the dimensions, it appears to represent one of the largest predatory dinosaur ever found in Europe – maybe even the biggest yet known.

"It’s a shame it’s only known from a small amount of material, but these are enough to show it was an immense creature."

The White Rock spinosaurid would 'have lived at the beginning of a period of rising sea levels and would have stalked lagoonal waters and sandflats in search of food'.

They were discovered by the late dinosaur hunter Nick Chase near the IoW's Compton Chine in the Vectis Formation geological structure. The treasured goods are now on display in the Dinosaur Isle Museum in Sandown.

Dr Neil Gostling, corresponding author of the study published in the journal PeerJ, said: "Unusually, this specimen eroded out of the Vectis Formation, which is notoriously poor in dinosaur fossils.

"It’s likely to be the youngest spinosaur material yet known from the UK."

Co-author Darren Naish said: "This new animal bolsters our previous argument – published last year – that spinosaurid dinosaurs originated and diversified in western Europe before becoming more widespread. We hope that additional remains will turn up in time.

"Because it’s only known from fragments at the moment, we haven’t given it a formal scientific name,’ Mr Naish added.

"We hope that additional remains will turn up in time."

Co-author Jeremy Lockwood, a PhD student at the University of Portsmouth and Natural History Museum, said: "We think they were caused by bone eating larvae of a type of scavenging beetle.

"It’s an interesting thought that this giant killer wound up becoming a meal for a host of insects."