Level 1 - Absolute Beginner
Scientists found a new dinosaur in a museum drawer. The bone was in the drawer for about one hundred years.
The bone is part of a head. It came from the Isle of Wight in England. A museum bought it in 1924.
The dinosaur lived about 120 million years ago. It ate meat and had long claws. It is the first one of its kind found in Europe.
Its name means unconquered female warrior.
- museum
- A place that shows old and interesting things.
- drawer
- A box that slides in and out of a desk.
- bone
- A hard part inside the body.
- dinosaur
- A very old animal that lived long ago.
- claw
- A sharp nail on an animal.
- Europe
- A continent that includes England.
- warrior
- A person who fights.
- island
- Land with water all around it.
Level 2 - Elementary
Researchers at University College London have named a new dinosaur from a fossil that sat largely unstudied in the Natural History Museum for about a century. The study appeared in the journal Royal Society Open Science on October 14.
The fossil is a braincase, the bone that protects the brain, found on the Isle of Wight. The museum bought it in 1924, and in 2020 palaeontologist Paul Barrett noticed it while going through the collections.
The animal, called Invictibellatrix amberina, lived about 120 million years ago in the Early Cretaceous. It belongs to the megaraptorans, a group of meat-eating dinosaurs with large claws, and it is the first one ever found in Europe.
Estimates put it at roughly three to four meters long, which makes it one of the smaller megaraptorans. Its name means unconquered female warrior, and the species name refers to amber in the rocks.
- fossil
- The remains of a living thing from long ago, kept in rock.
- braincase
- The bone that protects the brain.
- palaeontologist
- A scientist who studies fossils.
- collections
- Items kept together by a museum.
- Cretaceous
- A time period near the end of the dinosaur age.
- megaraptoran
- A group of meat-eating dinosaurs with big claws.
- estimate
- A careful guess.
- amber
- Hard, golden tree resin from long ago.
Level 3 - Intermediate
A fossil overlooked for roughly a century in the Natural History Museum in London has been identified as a new species of predatory dinosaur, according to a team led by University College London. The paper was published in Royal Society Open Science on October 14.
The specimen, a braincase from the Isle of Wight, was bought by the museum in 1924. Palaeontologist Paul Barrett came across it in 2020 while working through the collections, and detailed study revealed features shared with the megaraptorans, a group of long-clawed theropods that had been known mainly from the southern hemisphere and Asia.
Named Invictibellatrix amberina, a Latin phrase for unconquered female warrior paired with a reference to the amber found in the surrounding rock, the animal lived about 120 million years ago in the Early Cretaceous. It is the first megaraptoran recorded in Europe, and at an estimated three to four meters it was among the smaller members of its group.
Reports differ on the exact size and on whether the bone is a braincase or a partial skull, a reminder that early coverage of a new species often varies in detail.
- overlooked
- Not noticed.
- specimen
- A single sample used for study.
- theropod
- A meat-eating dinosaur that walked on two legs.
- hemisphere
- Half of the Earth.
- detailed
- Including many small points.
- paired with
- Joined together with.
- recorded
- Written down as found.
- coverage
- News reports about a subject.
Level 4 - Advanced
The most interesting discoveries in palaeontology sometimes happen in the storeroom rather than the field. A team led by University College London has identified a new predatory dinosaur from a braincase that the Natural History Museum acquired from the Isle of Wight in 1924 and then, in effect, forgot. The results appeared in Royal Society Open Science on October 14.
Paul Barrett rediscovered the specimen in 2020 while surveying the collections, and anatomical comparison placed it among the megaraptorans, a lineage of long-clawed theropods whose fossil record had centred on the southern continents and Asia. Invictibellatrix amberina, whose name conjoins the Latin for unconquered female warrior with a nod to the amber-bearing rock it came from, is the first megaraptoran documented in Europe.
Living around 120 million years ago in the Early Cretaceous, it measured an estimated three to four meters, making it one of the smaller members of its clade. Its presence suggests that the group's geographic range, and the dispersal routes that carried it, may have been wider than previously supposed.
Press accounts diverge on whether the fossil is best described as a braincase or a partial skull, and on its precise length, so the finer points will be settled by specialists as the paper is scrutinised.
- acquired
- Obtained.
- rediscovered
- Found again.
- anatomical
- Relating to the structure of bodies.
- lineage
- A line of descent.
- conjoins
- Joins together.
- clade
- A group of species sharing one ancestor.
- dispersal
- Spreading over a wide area.
- scrutinised
- Examined very closely.
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