A UCL-led team has identified a skull fossil from the Isle of Wight as Invictibellatrix amberina, a new dinosaur species and the first megaraptoran known from Europe.
The findings were published on October 14 in Royal Society Open Science. The fossil is a fragment of the back of a skull, acquired by London’s Natural History Museum in 1924 and left unstudied for decades. Researchers used micro-CT scanning and anatomical comparisons to assess the specimen and place it among the megaraptorans.
These two-legged carnivores were related to tyrannosaurs, but had relatively slender skulls and are thought to have relied on strong arms and large, curved claws to catch prey. Based on its relatives, the new species may have reached three to four metres in length, stood about 1.5 metres tall, and had claws up to 20 centimetres long; its size and diet are estimates, not directly preserved in the skull fragment. The animal lived about 120 million years ago, and its identification provides evidence supporting the idea that megaraptorans spread from Asia through Europe before reaching Gondwana, the ancient southern landmass.
Its name means “unconquered female warrior,” a nod to the group’s later rise as major predators.