Fossilized remains from the Isle of Wight have been identified as a new species of dinosaur, which has been named after a palaeontologist from the Natural History Museum in London.
It belongs to a group of plant-eating dinosaurs known as ankylosaurs that were discovered in the 1980s in the island’s Wessex Formation, a geological feature dating back between 145 and 66 million years.
After analysis revealed it was a new species, it was named Vectipelta barrette – after Prof Paul Barrett, Head of Vertebrate Fossils at the Natural History Museum (NHM).
It is the second armored dinosaur to be found on the island, being the first Polacanthus foxiiwhich was discovered in 1865. V bands differs from its predecessor P of the trenches in the bones of the neck and back.
The analysis also shows that both species have different pelvic structures and V bands has more blade-like armor with spikes.
Barrett said: “I am flattered and absolutely delighted to be recognized in this way, not least because the first article I ever wrote was also about an armored dinosaur in the NHM collections. I’m sure any physical resemblance is purely coincidental.
The findings are described in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.
Co-author Dr Suzanne Maidment, Senior Research Fellow at NHM, said: “Paul has been a really important and important mentor, supervisor, colleague and friend to me and several of the other authors on the paper and we wanted you to thank him and recognize his enormous contribution to dinosaur paleontology.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Maidment said that when the remains were discovered in the 1980s, they were thought to be of the same species as a 19th-century find on the island. But, she added, “we have now discovered that it is quite different from Polacanthus and is a new species. There are differences in his vertebrae, his pelvis and some of his armor are also different. So we’re pretty sure it’s a completely different animal.
Although both ankylosaurs originated from the same island, the researchers discovered that they were not closely related.
In fact, they said V bands is most closely related to some Chinese ankylosaurs, suggesting that these dinosaurs moved freely from Asia to Europe during the Early Cretaceous period, up to 145 million years ago).
Stuart Pond, a researcher in NHM’s Department of Earth Sciences, said: “This is an important specimen because it sheds light on the diversity of ankylosaurs in the Wessex Formation and Early Cretaceous of England.”
The researchers said the rocks from the Wessex Formation and the Isle of Wight were “hugely important” to understanding more about how the dinosaurs went extinct.