Overlooked Island Fossil Reveals New Dinosaur

A century-old museum skull fragment found on the Isle of Wight has identified a brand-new carnivorous species.

Named Invictibellatrix amberina, this tiger-sized hunter lived 120 million years ago and represents Europe’s first confirmed megaraptoran.

Unlike heavily jawed tyrannosaurs, these bipedal, feathered predators possessed slender heads alongside powerful arms featuring curved claws up to 20cm long to snag prey. Measuring three to four metres in length, Invictibellatrix consumed lizards, small mammals, and dinosaurs.

“It was not the apex predator of its time, but for humans this dinosaur would have been more dangerous than a T-rex,” explained lead author Dr Cassius Morrison.

“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.”

Advanced CT scanning revealed an hourglass-shaped crest and an oval spinal cavity on the skull piece. This key evidence confirms how megaraptors migrated from Asia through Europe into southern landmasses.

“Work like this shows the exceptional value of working with historical museum collections where there are still many discoveries to be made,” noted senior author Professor Paul Barrett.

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