This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A new species of dinosaur—a long-clawed predator the size of a large tiger—has been discovered by a UCL-led team from a fossil found on the Isle of Wight. The dinosaur, described in a new paper in the journal Royal Society Open Science, belongs to a group of agile, two-legged carnivores called megaraptorans and is the first of this group to be found in Europe.
Megaraptorans were closely related to tyrannosaurs including Tyrannosaurus rex but had slender heads, attacking prey with their large arms and giant curved claws instead of their jaws. While some species grew to gigantic sizes, just as tyrannosaurs did, this new species is one of the smallest and earliest of the group to be found, living in the U.K. in the Early Cretaceous period about 120 million years ago. It has been named Invictibellatrix amberina.
Invictibellatrix means "unconquered female warrior"—honoring megaraptorans' future role as massive apex predators. The fossil, a chunk of the back of a skull, was acquired by the Natural History Museum in 1924 and had been overlooked for study until now. Cassius Morrison (UCL Earth Sciences) said, "Based on what we know about its closest relatives, Invictibellatrix would have been three to four meters (10 to 13 feet) long and just over a meter and a half (5 feet) in height—about as tall as a human.
It would likely have had feathers and its claws might have been about 10cm to 20cm (4 to 8 inches) long. It would have eaten small dinosaurs, lizards and mammals—occupying a similar role in the food chain to the hyena today. "It was not the apex predator of its time, but for humans this dinosaur would have been more dangerous than a T. rex.
We would have been perfectly sized prey, about a third of their body weight. They definitely would have chased us. A T. rex would not have bothered, as we would have been too small.
"It is a real mystery that this fossil was overlooked for so long, sitting in a drawer for nearly 100 years. Lots of bones are found on the Isle of Wight—who knows what else is waiting to be discovered." Megaraptors are regarded as the most mysterious of the large, meat-eating dinosaurs, as few megaraptor fossils have been found. They are thought to have originated in Asia, before migrating through Europe and becoming apex predators throughout the southern landmass of Gondwana (including present-day Africa, South America and Antarctica).
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