A fossil that sat unstudied in a museum drawer for nearly a century has led to the identification of a previously unknown dinosaur species. The partial skull was originally gathered at the base of a cliff on the south-west coast of the Isle of Wight by amateur palaeontologist Reginald Walter Tooley. In 1924, the Natural History Museum acquired the fossil, but it remained overlooked for almost 100 years.
The Discovery
A research team led by University College London analyzed the specimen and identified it as a new species named Invictibellatrix amberina, which translates to "unconquered female warrior." This creature lived in the UK during the early Cretaceous period, roughly 120 million years ago. It is the very first member of the megaraptoran group to be found in Europe, supporting theories that these animals originated in Asia before migrating across Europe.
What Scientists Found
The newly identified species was a two-legged carnivore closely related to tyrannosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus rex. Scientists established several key characteristics for the dinosaur:
- It was comparable in size to a large tiger, measuring three to four metres long and slightly over one and a half metres high.
- It possessed feathers and claws measuring between 10 and 20 centimetres in length.
- Its diet included lizards, mammals, and small dinosaurs.
Why It Matters
Writing in the journal Royal Society Open Science, lead author Dr Cassius Morrison stated that while the dinosaur was not the top apex predator of its era, it would have been more dangerous to humans than a T. rex. Because a human would weigh roughly one-third of the predator's body mass, humans would have been ideal prey for it to chase, whereas a T. rex would ignore humans as too small.
The discovery highlights how many prehistoric secrets may still reside in museum collections or buried around the Isle of Wight. The study received funding from UK Research and Innovation, the Royal Society, and the Palaeontographical Society.
Source: dinosaur fossil discovery - BingNews · Published October 14, 2026 · Photo by JOHN K THORNE via Openverse