A newly-discovered dinosaur with an “eye-catching sail” alongside its again and tail is to be named after record-breaking yachtswoman Dame Ellen MacArthur.
Istiorachis macaruthurae was recognized and named by Jeremy Lockwood, a PhD pupil on the College of Portsmouth and the Pure Historical past Museum.
Istiorachis means “sail spine” and macaruthurae is taken from the surname of Dame Ellen, who grew to become well-known for setting a file for the quickest solo continuous round-the-world voyage in 2005.
Dame Ellen is from the Isle of Wight, the place the creature’s fossils have been discovered.
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Jeremy Lockwood with the spinal column of the dinosaur. Pic: College of Portsmouth/PA
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Lockwood stated the creature had notably lengthy neural spines. Pic: College of Portsmouth/PA
Earlier than Dr Lockwood analysed them, the fossils, which date again 125 million years, have been considered from one of many two recognized iguanodontian dinosaur species from the island.
“But this one had particularly long neural spines, which was very unusual,” he stated.
Writing within the scientific journal Papers in Palaeontology, Dr Lockwood stated his research confirmed the dino would have in all probability had a pronounced sail-like construction alongside its again.
The precise objective of such options “has long been debated, with theories ranging from body heat regulation to fat storage”.
On this case, researchers assume it was most definitely to be for “visual signalling, possibly as part of a sexual display”.
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Yachtswoman Dame Ellen MacArthur in 2014. File pic: PA
For the research, the researchers in contrast the fossilised bones with a database of comparable dinosaur backbones which allowed them to see how these sail-like formations had developed.
Dr Lockwood stated his staff confirmed Istiorachis’s spines “weren’t just tall, they were more exaggerated than is usual in Iguanodon-like dinosaurs, which is exactly the kind of trait you’d expect to evolve through sexual selection”.
Professor Susannah Maidment, of the Pure Historical past Museum, stated: “Jeremy’s cautious research of fossils which were in museum collections for a number of years has dropped at life the iguandontian dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight.
“His work highlights the importance of collections like those at [Isle Of Wight museum] Dinosaur Isle, where fossil specimens are preserved in perpetuity and can be studied and revised in the light of new data and new ideas about evolution.
“Over the previous 5 years, Jeremy has single-handedly quadrupled the recognized range of the smaller iguanodontians on the Isle of Wight, and Istiorachis demonstrates we nonetheless have a lot to study Early Cretaceous ecosystems within the UK.”
