The most complete UK dinosaur in a century found on the Isle of Wight

[July 10, 2024]  LONDON (Reuters) - The fossil remains of a plant-eating dinosaur estimated to have roamed the earth some 125 million years ago have been discovered on England's Isle of Wight, with scientists believing it to be the most complete new specimen found in Britain in a century.  

Weighing roughly the same as a large male American bison at about 900 kilograms (1990 lbs), the herbivorous species was likely a herding animal, Jeremy Lockwood, a PhD student at the University of Portsmouth who helped with the excavation, said in a statement.

The dinosaur, made up of 149 bones, was found in the cliffs of Compton Bay on the Isle of Wight, off the southern coast of England, in 2013 by late fossil collector Nick Chase.

It was named "Comptonatus chasei" as a tribute to Chase.

"Nick had a phenomenal nose for finding dinosaur bones ... This really is a remarkable find," Lockwood said.

"It helps us understand more about the different types of dinosaurs that lived in England in the Early Cretaceous," said Lockwood, also the lead author of a new paper describing the species published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.

The remains of a meat-eating dinosaur belonging to an ancient predator bigger than anything known from the whole of Europe was discovered on the island in 2022. It was also from the Cretaceous Period.

(Reporting by Muvija M; editing by Michael Holden)

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