Britain’s oldest sauropod dinosaur found

Palaeontologists have discovered Britain’s oldest sauropod dinosaur fossil on the coast of North Yorkshire.

A research team at the University of Manchester used x-ray computed tomography and estimated the age of the fossils to be 176 million years old representing the earliest record of this dinosaur type from the UK.

Professor Phil Manning, leader of team, said: “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.”

In the study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, the team collected the fossilised caudal vertebra of the backbone from the Saltwick Formation which was deposited during the Middle Jurassic Period (176 to 161 million years ago). They believe that the vertebra belongs to the group of sauropods characterised by their long necks and tails, small heads, and large bodies.

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.”

The scientists believe that the dinosaur fossils from the Middle Jurassic Period are extremely rare due to the few areas of exposed rock from that period.

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.”

The fossil was added to the Yorkshire Museum’s collection on Monday, 8 June 2015.

Paper: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0128107