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Paleontologists have found the fossilized remains of two species of Jurassic dinosaurs in County Antrim in Northern Ireland. These are the first dinosaur remains reported from anywhere in Ireland and among the most westerly in Europe.
Scelidosaurus harrisonii. Image credit: John Sibbick.
“This is an extremely important finding,” said Dr Mike Simms, curator and paleontologist in the Department of Natural Sciences at the National Museums of Northern Ireland.
“The great rarity of these fossils here is due to the fact that most Irish rocks are of the wrong age for dinosaurs, whether they are too old or too young, making it almost impossible to confirm that dinosaurs existed on these shores. .
The two fossil bones were found by the late Roger Byrne, teacher and fossil collector, who donated them along with many other fossils to the Ulster Museum.
“The fossils Roger Byrne found may have been washed out to sea, alive or dead, sinking into the Jurassic seabed where they were buried and fossilized,” said Dr Simms.
Originally it was assumed that the fossils were from the same animal, but Dr Simms and his colleagues were surprised to discover that they came from two completely different dinosaurs.
One is part of a femur (leg bone) of a four-legged herbivore called Scelidosaurus.
The other is part of the tibia (leg bone) of a two-legged meat eater similar to Sarcosaurus.
Dr Simms with the tibia of Sarcosaurus left and the femur of Scelidosaurus on the right. Image credit: National Museums of Northern Ireland.
“By analyzing the shape and internal structure of the bones, we realized that they belonged to two very different animals,” said Dr. Robert Smyth, paleontologist in the School of Environment, Geography and Geological Sciences. from the University of Portsmouth.
“One is very dense and robust, typical of an armored herbivore.”
“The other is slender, with thin bony walls and features only found in predatory, fast-moving two-legged dinosaurs called theropods.
“Although they are fragmentary, these fossils provide valuable information on a very important period in the evolution of dinosaurs, around 200 million years ago,” he added.
“This is when dinosaurs really start to dominate the world’s terrestrial ecosystems.”
“Scelidosaurus keeps showing up in the sea layers, and I’m starting to think that maybe it was a coastal animal, maybe even eating algae like marine iguanas do today, ”said Prof David Martill, also from the School of the Environment, Geography and Geology. Sciences at the University of Portsmouth.
The results were published in the Acts of the Association of Geologists.
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Michael j simms et al. The first dinosaur remains from Ireland. Proceedings of the Association of Geologists, published online November 11, 2020; doi: 10.1016 / j.pgeola.2020.06.005
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