Scientists yesterday announced the discovery of fossils of the two Cretaceous Period meat-eaters, both measuring about 9m and boasting elongated crocodile-like skulls, on the southwest of the island, one of Europe’s richest locales for dinosaur remains.
They are examples of a type of dinosaur called a spinosaur, known for long and narrow skulls with lots of conical teeth – perfect for grasping slippery fish – as well as strong arms and big claws.
One has been named “Ceratosuchops inferodios”, meaning “horned crocodile-faced hell heron”, because of that bird’s shoreline-foraging lifestyle. Ceratosuchops had a series of low horns and bumps ornamenting its brow region.
The second is named “Riparovenator milnerae”, meaning “Milner’s riverbank hunter”, honouring British paleontologist Angela Milner, who died last month. It may have been slightly larger than Ceratosuchops.
Each is estimated to have weighed 1,000-2,000kg, with skulls almost 1m long, according to Chris Barker, a University of Southampton PhD student in paleontology and lead author of the study published in the journal “Scientific Reports”.
“Both would have been heron-like shoreline hunters, wading out into water and thrusting the head down quickly to grab things like fish and small turtles, and on land would do something similar, grabbing baby dinosaurs and the like.
“They would basically have eaten anything small they could grab,” said paleontologist and study co-author David Hone, of Queen Mary University in London.
Spinosaurs were part of the broad group of bipedal meat-eating dinosaurs called theropods that included the likes of Tyrannosaurus rex.
Ceratosuchops and Riparovenator roamed a floodplain environment bathed in a subtropical Mediterranean-like climate, the researchers said. Forest fires occasionally ravaged the landscape, with fossils of burnt wood found throughout Isle of Wight cliffs.
With a large river and other bodies of water attracting plant-eating dinosaurs and hosting numerous bony fish, sharks and crocodiles, the habitat provided Ceratosuchops and Riparovenator plenty of hunting opportunities, Barker said.
The partial remains of Ceratosuchops and Riparovenator were discovered near the town of Brighstone. The fossils helped the scientists produce a family tree of spinosaurs, indicating the lineage originated in Europe before moving into Africa, Asia and South America.