An artist's interpretation of what the newly described species Vectipelta barretti may have looked like. (Image credit: ©Stu Pond)
Live Science has a story about a dinosaur discovery in the UK. The new dinosaur, Vectipelta barretti, was discovered in 1993 on the Isle of Wight. It belongs to the sub-order Ankylosauria, which are low, wide, armored, plant-eating dinosaurs. This animal lived about 140 million years ago during the early Cretaceous Period. The description of this new species was published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.
The Isle of Wight is a fossil hotspot, with more than 20 different dinosaurs being uncovered there, including large sauropods and a pair of carnivorous predators with "crocodile-like faces" in 2021.
Only two ankylosaur genera, Polacanthus and Hylaeosaurus, had previously been uncovered on the island. Researchers initially thought the V. barretti remains belonged to Polacanthus, which is the most abundant ankylosaur group identified in the area. But a closer examination revealed this was not the case.
