New Spinosaurus species found on the British Isles: “Probably the largest land predator ever found in Europe” | Science and the planet

Researchers suspect that this is a new species of carnivorous sphincter that is more than 10 meters long and weighs several tons. The animal had a skull similar to that of a crocodile and a large vessel behind it. It lived 125 million years ago.

“It may be a new species, but we can not yet name it based on the material we currently have,” Christopher Barker, a PhD student in vertebrate paleontology at the University of Southampton, who led the study, told CNN.

The wreckage was found on the southwest coast of the island at a place called Vectis Formation. Although Compton Bay is known for its dinosaur fossils, the bones in the Vectis formation are very rare. It is the first recognizable theropod in the layer.

Theropods are a major group of predominantly carnivorous bipedal dinosaurs, including Tyrannosaurus Rex and Velociraptor, known from the movies ‘Jurassic Park’ and ‘Jurassic World’. Our current birds are the living theropods.

According to Barker, the newly discovered model will be larger than a double-decker bus. The marks on the bones show how the carcass is being eaten.

Further research on the remains should reveal how old the animal was. It was a large animal, and based on some of the fossils we found, it was the largest predatory dinosaur ever found in Europe.