Europe's greatest predator may have been a crocodile-faced dinosaur

The monster was closely related to the enormous sail-backed dinosaur known as Spinosaurus.

 

One of the largest predatory beasts ever stalked across Europe was an enormous dinosaur with the face of a crocodile and a spiny back. This dinosaur roamed the area that is now England approximately 125 million years ago.

 

Palaeontologists discovered the fossilized remains of this mammoth creature on the Isle of Wight, located in the English Channel south of mainland England. The newly discovered species was given the moniker "White Rock spinosaurid" by the scientists who discovered it about the chalky geological layer that can be found on the island where it was located. Because the fossils that the scientists discovered were simply fragments, the creature does not yet have a proper scientific name.

 

According to a recent study published on June 9 in the journal PeerJ Life and Environment, the fragments are the youngest spinosaurid fossils that have ever been discovered in the United Kingdom. Spinosaurid dinosaurs were bipedal, carnivorous dinosaurs that lived during the Cretaceous period. Their skulls resembled those of crocodiles, and they had thin necks and limbs that were very strong (145 million to 66 million years ago). The newly discovered species is a near descendant of an older dinosaur that may have been aquatic and was known as Spinosaurus. Spinosaurus was larger than Tyrannosaurus rex and had a massive sail-like structure protruding from its back.

 

Due to the lack of fossils representing this taxonomic group, spinosaurids are shrouded in a certain air of enigma. The creatures are thought to have hunted in watery environments like lakes, rivers, and lagoons, but how exactly they took their prey is still a mystery to researchers. Some palaeontologists have hypothesized that spinosaurids actively pursued their prey while swimming (opens in new tab), propelling themselves by swishing their huge tails as modern crocodiles do. Other authorities believe the creatures moved more like herons, wading through the lagoons and plunging their long jaws into the water to catch fish. This behaviour is similar to what herons do. In any case, the creatures were massive, and the spinosaurid that was just unearthed at White Rock was among the largest of them all.

 

According to Chris Barker, the lead author of the study and a palaeontologist at the University of Southampton in England, who was quoted in a statement about the discovery, "This was a huge animal, exceeding 10 m [33 feet] in length, and judging from some of the dimensions, [it] probably represents the largest predatory dinosaur ever found in Europe." The speaker said it's a shame that it's only known from such a limited amount of material.

 

Researchers discovered the fossils of an ancient monster in the Cretaceous rocks that can be found close to Compton Chine, a geological feature located along the Isle of Wight's southern shore. The relics included massive pelvis and tail vertebrae. The fossils were preserved in a rocky formation known as the Vectis Formation, which began to form 125 million years ago when deposits brought in by rising sea levels invaded the site of a freshwater coastal lagoon. The Vectis Formation is where the fossils were discovered. The study's authors found that the White Rock spinosaurid would wander throughout these lagoonal waters and sandflats in quest of prey.

 

On the Isle of Wight, these researchers have uncovered more than one spinosaurid. According to a previous article by Live Science, the group described two new spinosaurid species in the year 2021. These species were called the "riverbank hunter" Riparovenator mineral and the "hell heron" Ceratosuchops inferodios. The riverbank hunter and the hell heron reached approximately 29.5 feet (9 meters) lengths, making them slightly shorter than their close relative, the White Rock spinosaurid. The discovery of these three spinosaurids brings the total number of spinosaurids found in the United Kingdom to four, the third spinosaurid being the terrifyingly clawed Baryonyx.

 

The researchers believe that the discovery of the White Rock spinosaurid bolsters their claim, which they first made when they described the previous two species of spinosaurid dinosaurs, that this group of dinosaurs may have first evolved in Europe before spreading across Asia and the supercontinent Gondwana, which later split into Africa and South America. They made this claim when they described the previous two species of spinosaurid dinosaurs.

 

The enormous dinosaur was perhaps the most dangerous terrestrial predator in Europe during its time, yet it also wound up being eaten by something else. The presence of marks on the bones provides evidence that other ravenous Cretaceous beasties picked over the carcass of the behemoth.

 

Jeremy Lockwood, a palaeontologist at the University of Portsmouth and co-author of the study, said in the statement that "the majority of these incredible fossils were found by Nick Chase, one of Britain's most skilled dinosaur hunters." Unfortunately, Nick Chase passed away just before the COVID epidemic. "During our search for the dinosaur's remains, Nick and I found a lump of the pelvis that had several tunnels carved into it. Each of the trenches was around the size of my index finger. We believe that either bone-eating larvae or a species of scavenging beetle were responsible for causing them. Considering that this gigantic predator eventually became a meal for various insects is an intriguing idea.

 

By cutting the giant's bones into thin slices and examining them under a microscope, the researchers hope to garner additional information about the extinct creature. According to the study's authors, this should make it possible for them to understand more about how quickly the spinosaurid grew and how old it may have been when it passed away.

Article source : https://www.livescience.com/largest-land-predator-isle-of-wight

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Europe's greatest predator may have been a crocodile-faced dinosaur.

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