Fossil overlooked for 100 years ID'd as new dinosaur species
A fossil discovered 100 years ago in the U.K. has been identified as a previously unknown cousin of the T. rex, and it "definitely would have chased us."
Key points
- A new dinosaur species, Invictibellatrix amberina, has been identified from a fossil found 100 years ago.
- The fossil, part of a skull, sat overlooked in London's Natural History Museum since 1924.
- The dinosaur was a feathered, two-legged predator about 10 to 13 feet long that used long arms and claws to hunt.
Scientists have identified a previously unknown dinosaur species from a fossil that was first found 100 years ago and then remained hidden in a British museum. The species, named Invictibellatrix amberina, was a two-legged carnivore about the size of a tiger and a cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex, according to a study published in Royal Society Open Science.
The fossil, a chunk of the back of a skull, was one of 1,000 specimens originally discovered by Reginald Walter Tooley on the Isle of Wight, off England's south coast, and later acquired by the Natural History Museum in London in 1924.
What the dinosaur was like
Researchers believe Invictibellatrix was between 10 and 13 feet long and almost 5 feet tall. It had feathers and hunted smaller dinosaurs, lizards and mammals, using its long arms and giant curved claws rather than its mouth like T. rex.
The dinosaur lived during the Early Cretaceous period, around 120 million years ago, and is one of the smallest and earliest known members of a group called megaraptorans. These were closely related to the tyrannosaurs, the group from which T. rex originated.
real mystery that the fossil was overlooked for so long
— Dr. Cassius Morrison
How the discovery was made
To study the fossil, researchers took a CT scan to create a 3D model of that part of the skull and compared it with skulls of other two-legged meat-eating dinosaurs such as tyrannosaurs, spinosaurs and raptors. Unique features led them to conclude it was a new species.
Dr. Cassius Morrison of University College London, the lead author, called it a "real mystery that the fossil was overlooked for so long." He said that while Invictibellatrix "was not the apex predator of its time," it would have been more dangerous to humans than a T. rex, adding, "We would have been perfectly sized prey, about a third of their body weight."
