Our team from the University of Manchester have identified Britain’s
oldest sauropod dinosaur from a fossil bone discovered on the Yorkshire coast. The vertebra (backbone) originates from a group of dinosaurs
that includes the largest land animals to have ever walked on Earth. This new
sauropod dinosaur, from the Middle Jurassic Period at about 176 million years old,
was found near Whitby, Yorkshire, after it fell out of a cliff face. This find
represents the earliest skeletal record of this type of dinosaur from the
United Kingdom and adds to existing evidence from Yorkshire dinosaur tracks that
this part of the country was once Britain’s very own ‘Jurassic World’.
Sauropods (often referred to as ‘brontosaurs’) include some
of the largest plant-eating dinosaurs to have roamed the Earth and were a
successful group for nearly 150 million years. They possessed distinctive long
necks and tails, small heads, a large body and walked on all fours. Some
species such as the Argentinosaurus grew
up to 115 feet (35 metres) long and possibly weighed as much as 80 tonnes.
The fragmentary nature of the new find from Yorkshire means
it is not possible to generate a new species of dinosaur. However, this fossil
clearly belongs to this distinctive group of titanic sized animals, the
sauropods. This dinosaur fossil is an
extremely rare find, given the Middle Jurassic rocks of the world are only
exposed in a few areas, such as China and Argentina where similar-aged dinosaur
fossils originate.
Professor Phil Manning and his team from The University of
Manchester used X-Ray Tomography to study the fossil bone, which is now held in
the collections at the Yorkshire Museum in York (UK). They present their description
of this new sauropod dinosaur in a paper published today in the Journal PLOS ONE.
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| Tail (caudal) vertebra of the new sauropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of Yorkshire. |
Professor Manning said: “Many scientists have worked on the
amazing dinosaur tracks from the Middle Jurassic rocks of Yorkshire. It was a
splendid surprise to come face-to-face with a fossil vertebra from the Jurassic
rocks of Yorkshire that was clearly from a sauropod dinosaur
“This fossil offers the earliest ‘body fossil’ evidence for
this important group of dinosaurs in the United Kingdom, but it is impossible to define a new species based upon this single bone." Whilst this
is clearly frustrating for the team, there is possibly more of this Jurassic
titan still to be discovered in the future and only then might it get a new
species name. Until more bones are discovered the team have simply nicknamed
Britain’s oldest sauropod dinosaur, ‘Alan’, after the finder of this
prehistoric beastie (Alan Gurr).
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| Reconstruction of 'Alan' the Middle Jurassic Yorkshire sauropod (image by Jason Poole) |
Dr Victoria Egerton (co-author on the paper) added: “The
Jurassic Park that was once Yorkshire clearly has much more to offer science in
our understanding of the distribution and evolution of dinosaurs.”
Dr Mike Romano, another co-author on the paper said: “Dinosaur
remains of Middle Jurassic age are generally rare, even on a global
scale. So, to find a single distinctive vertebra of that age on the beach
at Whitby, and one that represents a new taxon of sauropod dinosaurs, is indeed
a (white) feather in the cap for Yorkshire.”
Professor Manning and Dr Egerton will be talking this week
at the Times Cheltenham Science Festival.
Jane Furze, Director of the Festival, said: “At Cheltenham Science
Festival we strive to showcase ground-breaking research and introduce audiences
to some of the world’s greatest thinkers. The Manchester team clearly is one
such pioneering group who has transformed much of what we thought we knew about
dinosaurs. This latest discovery will further advance this field and we’re
honoured to have the new Sauropod ‘unearthed’ at the Cheltenham Science
Festival, which has become a hub for cutting-edge news.”
The vertebra will be on show at the Yorkshire Museum from
Monday June 8. For more information visit www.yorkshiremuseum.org.uk
