Paleontologists within the U.Okay. have uncovered the stays of a never-before-seen armored dinosaur with blade-like spikes that protruded from the edges of its heavily-protected physique.
The newly described species, named Vectipelta barretti, belongs to the suborder Ankylosauria — a gaggle of enormous herbivorous dinosaurs with 4 brief legs, broad and flattened our bodies, comparatively small heads and lengthy, generally club-like, tails. A majority of ankylosaurs, similar to Ankylosaurus, had been closely lined in spiky armor constituted of bony scales, generally known as osteoderms, to assist shield them from giant predators.
The partial skeleton of V. barretti, together with a few of its scythe-like osteoderms, was found in 1993 on the Wessex Formation on the Isle of Wight off England’s southern coast, and was totally excavated by a personal collector the next 12 months. A number of extra bones had been additionally recovered within the surrounding space within the late Nineties. In 2021, the island’s Dinosaur Isle Museum acquired the specimen, giving paleontologists an opportunity to review it for the primary time.
In a brand new examine, printed June 15 within the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, researchers revealed that the stays date again round 140 million years. The staff additionally used a pc program to recreate what a whole V. barretti skeleton would appear to be.
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The Isle of Wight is a fossil hotspot, with greater than 20 totally different dinosaurs being uncovered there, together with giant sauropods and a pair of carnivorous predators with “crocodile-like faces” in 2021.
Solely two ankylosaur genera, Polacanthus and Hylaeosaurus, had beforehand been uncovered on the island. Researchers initially thought the V. barretti stays belonged to Polacanthus, which is essentially the most plentiful ankylosaur group recognized within the space. However a more in-depth examination revealed this was not the case.
“It [V. barretti] is definitely actually distinct from Polacanthus,” examine co-author Susannah Maidment, a paleontologist on the Pure Historical past Museum in London, stated in a assertion. “It has options on its neck and again vertebrae that differ, whereas it additionally has extra blade-like and recurved spikes which we do not see within the Polacanthus materials that now we have.”
The stays of V. barretti are older than the oldest Polacanthus fossils, which date to round 134 million years in the past, however are youthful than the youngest Hylaeosaurus fossil from 143 million years in the past, additional indicating it’s a separate species.
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The staff additionally performed an evolutionary comparability between V. barretti and different recognized ankylosaurs, based mostly on similarities and variations between their skeletons. This revealed that V. barretti was unlikely to be a direct relative of both Polacanthus or Hylaeosaurus.
“They’re actually fairly far aside by way of ankylosaur evolution, so it’s actually very clear that this can be a totally different species,” Maidment stated.
As a substitute, the researchers imagine that V. barretti is most intently associated to ankylosaurs unearthed in modern-day China. This hints at a beforehand unknown migration for the armored dinosaur group from Asia to Europe. Nevertheless, extra work is required to substantiate this speculation, Maidment stated.
The species identify, barretti, was given to the newly uncovered ankylosaur in honor of Paul Barrett, a famend paleontologist on the Pure Historical past Museum, who was not concerned within the examine.
“I am flattered and completely delighted to have been acknowledged on this approach,” Barrett stated within the assertion. “I am certain that any bodily resemblance is solely unintentional,” he joked.
