Following the announcement of yet another new dinosaur species found in the UK, we look back on the exciting fossil discoveries made so far this year.
Hitting the headlines today, is the new species of dinosaur with an unusually large nose, identified by a retired GP who spent lockdown rummaging through boxes of hundreds of old bones.
Jeremy Lockwood, who is studying for a PhD at the University of Portsmouth, set himself the task of cataloguing every iguanodon bone discovered on the Isle of Wight.
As the 64-year-old sorted the bones from the collections of the Natural History Museum in London and the Dinosaur Isle Museum, he discovered the unique “bulbous” nasal bone.
Dr Lockwood said: “Last year during lockdown, after four years of going through boxes and boxes of bones, I decided to reconstruct the skull of a specimen, which had been in storage since 1978, and to my astonishment I noticed the end of its nose was bulbous.
“This discovery made it one of the happiest days of lockdown because it was a sign there really was something different about this particular dinosaur from the Isle of Wight.”
Dr Lockwood, working with Professor Dave Martill, from the University of Portsmouth, and Dr Susannah Maidment, from the Natural History Museum, has now named the new species Brighstoneus simmondsi, for a study published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.
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‘Jurassic giant’ dinosaur footprint found on Yorkshire coast
Back in April, the discovery of the largest dinosaur footprint ever found in Yorkshire made by a woman collecting shellfish on the beach created waves.
Experts believe it was made by a large meat-eating dinosaur with a possible body length of eight to nine metres, matching the print of a Megalosaurus, which lived between 175 and 164 million years ago.
Footprints of last dinosaurs in UK found near white cliffs of Dover
More footprints were uncovered in June, this time close to the white cliffs of Dover.
Scientists said the prints are from the last of the dinosaurs to have walked on UK soil 110 million years ago.
The prints were discovered in the cliffs and the foreshore of Folkestone, Kent, after stormy conditions exposed new fossils in the area.
They are believed to have been left behind by ankylosaurs, rugged-looking armoured dinosaurs which were like living tanks; theropods, three-toed flesh-eating dinosaurs like the tyrannosaurus rex; and ornithopods, plant-eating “bird-hipped” dinosaurs so-called because of their pelvic structure being similar to birds.
Largest find of Jurassic starfish ever discovered in the UK
In July, at a secret location in the Cotswolds, the Natural History Museum excavated one of the largest and most important finds of exquisitely preserved Jurassic echinoderms ever found.
Echinoderms are a group of animals including starfish, brittle stars, feather stars (stalk-less crinoids), sea lilies (stalked crinoids), sea cucumbers and echinoids (sea urchins and sea potatoes or dollars).
Surprisingly, and highly unusually, species belonging to all these groups were discovered at the site.
‘Hell heron’ among new dinosaurs discovered on Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight was the location of another dino discovery back in September where two new species of dinosaur that may have once roamed 125 million years ago were unearthed.
The two carnivorous reptiles are thought to have been nine metres long (29.5ft) – about the same length as a Stegosaurus – with skulls like crocodiles.
One has been described as a “hell heron”, with scientists describing its hunting style like a fearsome version of the modern-day bird.
One expert hailed the discovery of the two specimens in quick succession as a “huge surprise”, but said palaeontologists had suspected for decades that the remains of such dinosaurs could be found on the island.
Scientists identify oldest-known meat-eating dinosaur from the UK
Last month, scientists described the oldest known meat-eating dinosaur from the UK – a chicken sized animal that would have been one metre long with its tail.
The new dinosaur is a theropod, a group which also includes T. rex and modern birds.
The fossil was named Pendraig milnerae – Pendraig meaning chief dragon in Middle Welsh, and milnerae honouring Dr Angela Milner, who was the Natural History Museum’s deputy keeper of palaeontology for more than 30 years.
It dates from the Late Triassic period (more than 200 million years ago) and was first discovered in Pant-y-ffynnon in southern Wales and described in a 1983 thesis.
However, it has now been reclassified as a new species, and the oldest theropod discovered in the UK to date.
These dinosaurs were smaller than their closest relatives living on the mainland and are likely to have had a body size similar to that of a modern-day chicken.
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