The new species allegedly had a hip bone the size of a dinner plate.
Paleontologists have uncovered one of the best-preserved dinosaurs ever found in the United Kingdom on the Isle of Wight. In adinosaurs discovered in the U.K. in the last century; the last incredibly well-preserved specimen was also a species of iguanodon. It’s the latest in a number of remarkable dinosaur discoveries from the island., a scientific associate at the Natural History Museum, who led the examination of the newly described species.
Another part of its name – “tonatus” – derives from the Latin for ‘thunderous’. Weighing in at around one ton, this herbivorous dinosaur likely roamed the land in large herds. For this reason, iguanodontids are a family of dinosaurs often referred to as the “cattle of the Cretaceous,” says Lockwood. It’s likely this particular specimen was around six years old. That means it was beyond its juvenile years but could have grown even larger.
Remarkable in its own right, this discovery also sheds further light on the flourishing dinosaur diversity at this time in history. The Isle of Wight is now known to have been home to at least four different iguanodontian species – According to the study, iguanodontians emerged in the late Middle Jurassic period and began to diversify sometime in the Cretaceous. The discovery ofadds to the evidence that these dinosaurs may have branched off from one another quite rapidly, Lockwood says. It’s not known whether they coexisted at the same time or were pushed together by environmental factors, such as rising sea levels. These are questions that remain to be answered..
“This really is a remarkable find. It helps us understand more about the different types of dinosaurs that lived in England in the Early Cretaceous. This adds to recent research that shows that Wessex was one of the world’s most diverse ecosystems,” says Lockwood.use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards.
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