Europe's First Megaraptoran Dinosaur: Invictibellatrix amberina

Publication Info:

Transcript:

While Bahariasaurus has been proposed to be a Megaraptoran, its position is unconfirmed.

Cassius Morrison, et al. A new megaraptoran dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Wessex Formation, UK, and its implications for theropod evolution and biogeography, Royal Society Open Science (2026). DOI: 10.1098/rsos.260937.

Meet Invictibellatrix amberina, the new Tiger sized megaraptoran dinosaur from the Isle of Wight. Megaraptorans aren't what you're thinking of when you hear "raptor". They weren't the small, birdlike theropods with sickle shaped toe claws, but large, agile hunters, with knife-like claws mounted to powerful, muscular arms. While this dinosaur was just named, its fossil is anything but new. It's been hiding in a drawer for over 100 years!

Episode 358

Notes:

Europe's first megaraptoran was just discovered hiding in a drawer and it's been in there for like 100 years. In case you don't know, megaraptorans or relatives of Megaraptor aren't just giant raptors, at least not the raptor you're thinking of. They're medium to large, pretty agile theropods. They definitely don't have the toe claw you're expecting. Their business end is on their front limbs. Well, I mean, to be fair, they are still large theropods with strong legs and sharp, regular toe claws, just not on the same scale something like Velociraptor or Deinonychus. That said, megaraptorans still had insanely formidable claws. They were just on their hands, which were on large, muscular arms. And you may already know some megaraptorans like Fukuiraptor and Maip and Bahariasaurus. Especially Bahariasaurus, it was a megaraptoran approaching the size of a T-Rex at 42 ft long. Meet Invictibellatrix amberina, the newly named 13-ft long megaraptoran dinosaur that lived in the UK about 120 million years ago. And while it would have only stood about 5 ft tall, making it one of the smallest, if not the smallest megaraptoran, its hand claws could have been up to 8 in long. Meaning an animal that size is being compared to somewhere between a tiger and human having literal steak knives on its hands. And according to paleontologists, it indicates that in the early Cretaceous, megaraptoran dinosaurs could have been much more widely spread with possibly close to global distribution until later reducing their numbers in the northern hemisphere and evolving into the truly giant famous species we know from the southern hemisphere. And like I said, while this is a new dinosaur, this is not a new fossil because this partial skull has been sitting in a collection drawer for over 100 years. Originally recovered in 1924, which again just shows the importance of paleontologists revisiting museum collections. As usual, if you want more information, here's the source.