New dinosaur species discovered from the Cretaceous period

Scientists have discovered a new species of dinosaur after its bones were unearthed, a new study reports. Scientists have named this species Brighstoneus simmondsi.

This dinosaur is thought to have emerged from the Early Cretaceous, about 125 million years ago. The genus Brighstoneous is named after Brighstone - an English town near the excavation site. Simmondsi is the surname of Mr. Keith Simmonds - who found the specimens.

Brighstoneus had a rounded nose and more teeth.

Archaeologist Simmonds found the reptile's bones in 1978 on the Isle of Wight. This is an island off the south coast of England. The specimens are housed in the Dinosaur Island Museum in Sandown on the Isle of Wight. More than 40 years later, they are examined in a new study.

Study author Jeremy Lockwood, a PhD student at London's Natural History Museum and the University of Portsmouth in the UK, said: 'Today, it's more about discovering new dinosaurs in museums than out in the open. fieldwork is quite common'.

The study of the species Brighstoneus simmondsi was published in the Journal of Systemic Paleontology. At the time, Mr. Lockwood was conducting research on a variety of giant herbivorous dinosaurs, including Iguanodon and Mantellisaurus atherfieldensis.

To date, those are the most common dinosaur fossils found on the island. After a thorough examination of the bone fragments, researcher Lockwood discovered a new species of dinosaur.

Specifically, both Iguanodon and Mantellisaurus had straight, flat noses. Meanwhile, Brighstoneus has a rounded nose. According to Mr. Lockwood, to be suitable for chewing, Brighstoneus also had more teeth.

'During the Early Cretaceous, grasses and flowering plants were uncommon. Therefore, the dinosaurs may have had to eat hard plants such as pine needles and ferns,' this expert explained.

Based on the fossil's femur, scientists estimate that the discovered dinosaur was about 8 meters long and weighed about 2,200 pounds (1,000 kg). Thanks to this discovery, the scientists determined that all the thin bones found on the island belonged to the species Mantellisaurus. Meanwhile, the larger bones are classified as belonging to the species Iguanodon.

'Brighstoneus suggests there was greater diversity in the Cretaceous dinosaurs,' Mr Lockwood said.

In addition, the Brighstoneus specimens discovered were 4 million years earlier than the Mantellisaurus bones. Some of the bones' features, such as the bones, are some of the features of the bones, said Matthew McCurry, curator of paleontology at the Australian Museum in Sydney and a senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales, who was not involved in the study. jawbone, found only in Brighstoneus. The longer jaws could hold 28 teeth, a few more than any other closely related dinosaur.

Lockwood said he was interested in studying whether dinosaur diversity fluctuated, or stayed the same, over the course of a million years. Meanwhile, Mr McCurry said, dinosaur bones could also reveal what the Earth was like millions of years ago, 'Describing new dinosaurs is the first step in combining past ecosystems. what they look like and learn about how they change over time,' said McCurry.