Various different species likely roamed the Cretaceous

Analysis of the teeth of a British spinosaur by paleontologists at the University of Southampton’s EvoPalaeoLab shows that several different groups of spinosaurs inhabited Cretaceous Britain.

Stored in the collection from Hastings Museum and Art Gallery in East Sussex, the fossils on which the research was based were presented to the museum only in 1889. They were collected from the local Lower Cretaceous rocks of the Wealden Supergroup, a thick and complex series of rocks deposited in south-east England between 140 and 125 million years ago.

Wealden is famous for its spinosaur fossils. Baryonyx – discovered in the Wealden of Surrey in 1983 – is one of the most significant spinosaur specimens in the world, as it was the first to reveal a true sighting of this group of crocodile-headed fish-eaters. The less impressive spinosaur remains – isolated teeth – are common throughout Wealden, and are often identified as his own Baryonyx. However, some experts have long suspected that this was not the case, and this is confirmed by a new study published in Life & Environment PeerJ.

“We used a variety of techniques to identify this specimen, to test whether isolated spinosaur teeth could be referenced Baryonyx”, says lead author Chris Barker, whose PhD focuses on spinosaurs in southern England. “The teeth are not grouped Baryonyx in one of our data runs. It must belong to a different type of spinosaur.”

The results show that a distinct and distantly related type of spinosaur lived in the region during the Early Cretaceous. This supports research by the EvoPalaeoLab team, which argued in previous research that spinosaurs in southern England were more diverse than previously thought. In 2021, they named ‘hell crane’ Ceratosuchops of the Isle of Wight, and in 2022 announced the discovery of what may belong to Europe largest land predator that ever existed, a giant known only as the White Rock spinosaur. Some of these spinosaurs didn’t all live at the same time, but inhabited the region for more than 15 million years.

“Museums themselves are places to make exciting discoveries because our understanding of specimens has changed since deposit. What this work highlights is the importance of keeping collections alive, and developing our understanding of them. Curators are crucial to helping us navigate cupboards and displays, helping us to open notes that are often incomplete – either never written down completely, or lost in time. The diversity of paleoenvironments is not always hidden in rocks, it is often waiting in museums, it is important to wait to be rediscovered!” – Dr. Neil Gostling

“Dinosaur teeth hold a lot of anatomical detail, and we can use a variety of analytical techniques to see how similar, or different, they are to other teeth. Our new study shows that a previously unknown species of spinosaurus existed in a lesser-known part of Wealden’s history, and we hope that better remains will be found that increase our knowledge. It’s another reminder that well-studied places like southern England have the potential to produce new dinosaur species. – Dr. Darren Naish