A dinosaur fossil that spent nearly a century overlooked in a museum collection has turned out to belong to an entirely new species of prehistoric predator. About the size of a large tiger and armed with enormous curved claws, the animal roamed what is now Britain approximately 120 million years ago. The discovery was made by researchers led by University College London (UCL), who examined a fossil skull fragment originally found on the Isle of Wight.
Their findings, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, identify the dinosaur as Invictibellatrix amberina, the first known European member of a mysterious group of carnivorous dinosaurs called megaraptorans. These agile predators walked on two legs and were closely related to tyrannosaurs, including the famous Tyrannosaurus rex. However, their hunting equipment was strikingly different.
Rather than relying primarily on massive jaws, megaraptorans had relatively narrow skulls, powerful arms, and huge curved claws that helped them seize their prey. Some members of this group eventually became enormous predators, rivaling tyrannosaurs in size. Invictibellatrix, however, was among the earliest and smallest megaraptorans discovered so far.
Its name translates to "unconquered female warrior," a reference to the powerful predators that later emerged from this evolutionary lineage. A Forgotten Dinosaur That Could Have Hunted Humans The fossil consists of part of the rear of the dinosaur's skull. Although the Natural History Museum acquired it in 1924, its scientific importance went unrecognized for generations.
By comparing the fragment with fossils from related dinosaurs, researchers were able to estimate what this long-extinct animal might have looked like and how it lived. Cassius Morrison (UCL Earth Sciences) said: "Based on what we know about its closest relatives, Invictibellatrix would have been three to four meters long and just over a meter and a half in height -- about as tall as a human. It would likely have had feathers and its claws might have been about 10cm to 20cm long.
It would have eaten small dinosaurs, lizards and mammals -- occupying a similar role in the food chain to the hyena today. "It was not the apex predator of its time, but for humans this dinosaur would have been more dangerous than a T. rex. We would have been perfectly sized prey, about a third of their body weight.
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