16-02-2022
Researchers at NOVA School of Science and Technology and the Lourinhã Museum announce the existence of a new species of predatory dinosaur in Portugal, discovered from the remains of a spinosaurid dinosaur that had previously been discovered in the Cabo Espichel area, in Sesimbra.
The discovery, published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, by paleontologists Octávio Mateus and Darío Estraviz-López, points to the existence of a new dinosaur, named Iberospinus natarioi, which means “Iberian spine”. Among other characters, Iberospinus has a unique configuration of the jaw, with different internal canals and a straight mandible instead of a pronounced tip pointing upwards, seen in related dinosaurs.
Iberospinus natarioi is the third spinosaurid dinosaur named within Iberian Peninsula after Camarillasaurus cirugedae (initially not recognized as a spinosaurid) and Vallibonavenatrix cani. It joins some of the oldest members of the group, like those discovered in Britain (including two recently described species from Southern England and the famous Baryonyx), increasing the possibilities that spinosaurids arose for the first time in Western Europe.
Paleontologists made 3D scans of the dinosaur that can be downloaded for free. “This will help paleontologists, museums and hobbyists. We can print the bones in 3D”, explains Octávio Mateus, professor and researcher at the Department of Earth Sciences.
This new study is financed by a grant “Super Animais 3”, a collaboration between Dinoparque Lourinhã and Pingo Doce supermarkets. An exhibition about the new dinosaur is scheduled to be soon opened to the public at the Dinoparque Lourinhã and then move to the Museum of Lourinhã. It will include art from the paleoartist Victor Feijó de Carvalho, who won the prestigious Lanzendorf paleoart prize in 2021.
