Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight

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The Isle of Wight is one of the richest dinosaur localities in Europe, with over 20 species of dinosaur having been recognised from the early Cretaceous Period (in particular between 132 and 110 million years ago), some of which were first identified on the island, as well as the contemporary non-dinosaurian species of crocodile, turtle and pterosaur.

Contents

Compton Bay, near Freshwater features dinosaur footprints which are visible at low tide.

Geological strata

The Isle of Wight has layers of the Vectis and Wealden fossil-bearing beds exposed on the southern half of the island. These are revealed in the cliffs of Yaverland, close to Sandown, and at Hanover Point and Whale Chine, along the southwestern coast.

The Cretaceous habitat

The island's dinosaurs come from the Wessex Formation, which dates from between 125 and 110 million years ago (mya). During this time the Isle of Wight, then located on a latitude at which North Africa resides today, had a subtropical environment and was part of a large river valley complex, which ran along the south coast of England to Belgium. It was a world of ponds, rivers and swamps, so it had conditions favourable for the formation of fossils.

Animal remains from this time include crocodiles, turtles, pterosaurs, mammals and possibly some birds. In the water were snails, fish and mussels.

As this environment did not change much, over the course of 10 million years, a large number of fossils were formed, so the island today is a very rich source.

List of dinosaur species and genera

Unless otherwise specified, the following is a list of dinosaurs for which almost complete skeletons have been found on the island. There are also many more species, known only from a single or very few bones.

Order Ornithischia

Order Saurischia

Baryonyx, a large theropod, was found with fish scales in its stomach, indicating that it may have been a piscivore. Baryonyx BW.jpg
Baryonyx, a large theropod, was found with fish scales in its stomach, indicating that it may have been a piscivore.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dinosaur Isle</span> Dinosaur museum on the Isle of Wight

Dinosaur Isle is a purpose-built dinosaur museum located in Sandown on the Isle of Wight in southern England.

<i>Hylaeosaurus</i> Ankylosaurian dinosaur genus from Early Cretaceous Period

Hylaeosaurus is a herbivorous ankylosaurian dinosaur that lived about 136 million years ago, in the late Valanginian stage of the early Cretaceous period of England. It was found in the Grinstead Clay Formation.

<i>Polacanthus</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Polacanthus, deriving its name from the Ancient Greek polys-/πολύς- "many" and akantha/ἄκανθα "thorn" or "prickle", is an early armoured, spiked, plant-eating ankylosaurian dinosaur from the early Cretaceous period of England.

<i>Neovenator</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Neovenator is a genus of carcharodontosaurian theropod dinosaur. It is known from several skeletons found in the Early Cretaceous (Hauterivian-Barremian) Wessex Formation on the south coast of the Isle of Wight, southern England. It is one of the best known theropod dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous of Europe.

<i>Eotyrannus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Eotyrannus is a genus of tyrannosauroid theropod dinosaur hailing from the Early Cretaceous Wessex Formation beds, included in Wealden Group, located in the southwest coast of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. The remains (MIWG1997.550), consisting of assorted skull, axial skeleton and appendicular skeleton elements, from a juvenile or subadult, found in a plant debris clay bed, were described by Hutt et al. in early 2001. The etymology of the generic name refers to the animal's classification as an early tyrannosaur or "tyrant lizard", while the specific name honors the discoverer of the fossil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darren Naish</span> British palaeontologist and science writer (born 1975)

Darren William Naish is a British vertebrate paleontologist, author and science communicator.

<i>Yaverlandia</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Yaverlandia is a genus of maniraptoran dinosaur. Known from a partial fossil skull found in Lower Cretaceous strata of the Wessex Formation on the Isle of Wight. it was described as the earliest known member of the pachycephalosaurid family, but research by Darren Naish shows it to have actually been a theropod, seemingly a maniraptoran. The type species is Y. bitholus.

Calamospondylus is a genus of theropod dinosaur. It lived during the Early Cretaceous and its fossils were found on the Isle of Wight in southern England. The type species is C. oweni.

<i>Calamosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Calamosaurus was a genus of small theropod dinosaur from the Barremian-age Lower Cretaceous Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight, England. It is based on two cervical vertebrae, collected by Reverend William Fox.

Eucamerotus was a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Barremian-age Lower Cretaceous Wessex Formation (Wealden) of the Isle of Wight, England.

<i>Oplosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Oplosaurus was a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Barremian-age Lower Cretaceous Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight, England. It is known from a single tooth usually referred to the contemporaneous "wastebasket taxon" Pelorosaurus, although there is no solid evidence for this.

<i>Ornithopsis</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Ornithopsis is a genus of sauropod dinosaur, from the Early Cretaceous of England. The type species, which is the only species seen as valid today, is O. hulkei, which is only known from fragmentary remains, and has been regarded by many authors as dubious.

<i>Ornithodesmus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Ornithodesmus is a genus of small, dromaeosaurid dinosaur from the Isle of Wight in England, dating to about 125 million years ago. The name was originally assigned to a bird-like sacrum, initially believed to come from a bird and subsequently identified as a pterosaur. More complete pterosaur remains were later assigned to Ornithodesmus, until recently a detailed analysis determined that the original specimen in fact came from a small theropod, specifically a dromaeosaur, making it one of the first dromaeosaurs known to science. All pterosaurian material previously assigned to this genus has been renamed Istiodactylus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wessex Formation</span> Early Cretaceous geological formation in England

The Wessex Formation is a fossil-rich English geological formation that dates from the Berriasian to Barremian stages of the Early Cretaceous. It forms part of the Wealden Group and underlies the younger Vectis Formation and overlies the Durlston Formation. The dominant lithology of this unit is mudstone with some interbedded sandstones. It is part of the strata of the Wessex Basin, exposed in both the Isle of Purbeck and the Isle of Wight. While the Purbeck sections are largely barren of vertebrate remains, the Isle of Wight sections are well known for producing the richest and most diverse fauna in Early Cretaceous Europe.

The Vectis Formation is a geological formation on the Isle of Wight and Swanage, England whose strata were formed in the lowermost Aptian, approximately 125 million years ago. The environment of deposition was that of a freshwater coastal lagoon with occasional marine influence after the early Aptian marine transgression, transitioning from the floodplain environment of the underlying Wessex Formation. The primary lithology is of laminated grey mudstones. The Vectis Formation is composed of three geological members: the Shepherds Chine member, the Barnes High Sandstone member, and the Cowleaze Chine member. It is overlain by the fully marine Atherfield Clay Formation, part of the Lower Greensand Group. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.

<i>Ceratosuchops</i> Genus of baryonychine spinosaur from the Early Cretaceous

Ceratosuchops is a genus of spinosaurid from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) of Britain.

<i>Riparovenator</i> Genus of baryonychine spinosaur from the Early Cretaceous

Riparovenator is a genus of baryonychine spinosaurid dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) period of Britain, the type species is Riparovenator milnerae.

<i>Vectiraptor</i> Dromaeosaurid dinosaur genus from Early Cretaceous England

Vectiraptor is a genus of dromaeosaurid dinosaur from the Barremian aged Wessex Formation of the United Kingdom. The type and only species is Vectiraptor greeni, known from associated dorsal vertebrae and a partial sacrum.

<i>Vectipelta</i> Genus of ankylosaurian dinosaurs

Vectipelta is an extinct genus of ankylosaurian dinosaur recovered from the Early Cretaceous Wessex Formation of England. The genus contains a single species, V. barretti, known from a partial skeleton including several osteoderms. It was historically known as the "Spearpoint ankylosaur" prior to its description.

References

  1. Lockwood, Jeremy A. F.; Martill, David M.; Maidment, Susannah C. R. (10 November 2021). "A new hadrosauriform dinosaur from the Wessex Formation, Wealden Group (Early Cretaceous), of the Isle of Wight, southern England". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 19 (12): 847–888. doi: 10.1080/14772019.2021.1978005 . ISSN   1477-2019. S2CID   244067410.
  2. Thomas J. Raven (2021) The taxonomic, phylogenetic, biogeographic and macroevolutionary history of the armoured dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Thyreophora) (PhD thesis)
  3. Naish, Darren (12 July 2006). "'Angloposeidon', the unreported story, part I". Tetrapod Zoology.
  4. Taylor, Mike (6 November 2008). "Mystery sauropod dorsals of the Wealden, part 3: BMNH R88/89 — Britain's Best Brachiosaur (for now)". SVPOW.
  5. "Sauropod dinosaurs". Field Guide to English Wealden Fossils. Palaeontological Association. 2011.
  6. "Iuticosaurus, an Isle of Wight Titanosaurid". DinoWight. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  7. Wright, T. (1852). Contributions to the palaeontology of the Isle of Wight. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 2:87-93.
  8. "Ornithopsis, an Isle of Wight Brachiosaur". DinoWight. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  9. 1 2 Barker, C.T.; Hone, D.; Naish, D.; Cau, A.; Lockwood, J.; Foster, B.; Clarkin, C.; Schneider, P.; Gostling, N. (2021). "New spinosaurids from the Wessex Formation (Early Cretaceous, UK) and the European origins of Spinosauridae". Scientific Reports. 11 (1): 19340. Bibcode:2021NatSR..1119340B. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-97870-8. PMC   8481559 . PMID   34588472.
  10. Huene, F. von, 1923, "Carnivorous Saurischia in Europe since the Triassic", Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 34: 449-458
  11. Longrich, Nicholas R.; Martill, David M.; Jacobs, Megan L. (June 2022). "A new dromaeosaurid dinosaur from the Wessex Formation (Lower Cretaceous, Barremian) of the Isle of Wight, and implications for European palaeobiogeography". Cretaceous Research. 134: 105123. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.105123. S2CID   245324247.
  12. Barker, Chris; Naish, Darren; Clarkin, Claire; Hullman, Gabriel; Schneider, Philipp; Gostling, Neil; Farrell, Paul; Ward, Robin; Lockyer, James (2020). "Dryad Data -- Data from: A highly pneumatic 'mid Cretaceous' theropod from the British Lower Greensand". Dryad. doi:10.5061/dryad.8cz8w9gmj.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

Other meanings

Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight (Palaeontological Association, 2001) ISBN   0-901702-72-2, is also the title of a field guide to dinosaurs found on the island, by Darren Naish and David Martill.