Newly discovered dinosaur named after sailing legend Dame Ellen MacArthur
The dinosaur fossil, called Istiorachis macaruthurae, features an “eye-catching sail” along its back and tail and was found on the Isle of Wight.
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The fossil, which dates back 125 million years, was identified and named by University of Portsmouth PhD student Jeremy Lockwood and the Natural History Museum.
It is to be named after Dame Ellen MacArthur, who gained recognition following her record for the fastest solo non-stop around-the-world voyage back in 2005.
The term istiorachis means “sail spine”, and macaruthurae is taken from the surname of Dame Ellen, who comes from the island off the south coast of England.
When alive, the creature would have weighed approximately one tonne, and would have been about the size of an American bison.
It was initially thought that the fossils were from one of the two known iguanodontian dinosaur species from the island. However, the long neural spines featured on the fossil were considered unusual, and sparked further analysis from Dr Lockwood.
“While the skeleton wasn’t as complete as some of the others that have been found, no-one had really taken a close look at these bones before,” said Dr Lockwood, a former GP.
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Writing in the scientific journal Papers in Palaeontology, he said his study showed the dinosaur would likely have had a large sail-like structure along its back - although the purpose of the features is unclear.
Research by the team showed Istiorachis's spines were “more exaggerated” than expected in usual Iguanodon-esque dinosaurs, leading to the assumption it was likely for “visual signalling, possibly as part of a sexual display”.
Similar bone structures on other dinosaurs have long left experts confused, with theories surrounding body heat regulation and fat storage.
Natural History Museum representative Professor Susannah Maidment said Dr Lockwood’s work “has brought to life the iguandontian dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight.”
“Over the past five years, Jeremy has single-handedly quadrupled the known diversity of the smaller iguanodontians on the Isle of Wight, and Istiorachis demonstrates we still have much to learn about Early Cretaceous ecosystems in the UK."