![\"Undated](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/SEI_316552885-219e.jpg\")
\n\t\tNot as scary-looking as a T-rex, but these feathery critters would be even more terrifying to us (Picture: Sergey Krasovskiy and Pedro Salas\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n
\t\t
\n\t\tNot as scary-looking as a T-rex, but these feathery critters would be even more terrifying to us (Picture: Sergey Krasovskiy and Pedro Salas\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n
Better late than never, right?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what dinosaur <\/a>researchers, called palaeontologists, might have thought when they realised they had been sat on a new species of reptile<\/a>.<\/p>\n Invictibellatrix amberina \u2013 or \u2018unconquered female warrior\u2019 \u2013 was identified from a fossil found on the Isle of Wight<\/a> more than 100 years ago, according to a paper published yesterday in Royal Society Open Science<\/a>.<\/p>\n The ancient beast was a megaraptoran, light-footed, feathery carnivore with long, powerful arms tipped with giant claws.<\/p>\n Invictibellatrix\u00a0prowled Earth during the Early Cretaceous period, about 120million years ago<\/a>, when there were rainforests on the poles.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tSign up for all of the latest stories\t\t\t<\/p>\n Start your day informed with Metro’s News Updates<\/a> newsletter or get Breaking News<\/a> alerts the moment it happens. <\/p>\n Yet Invictibellatrix amberina doesn\u2019t really put the \u2018mega\u2019 in megaraptorans; the species was\u00a0just a metre and a half in height, or as tall as a human.<\/p>\n \t\t \u2018Invictibellatrix\u00a0would have been three to four metres long,\u2019 said <\/a>lead author Dr Cassius Morrison, of University College London<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2018It would likely have had feathers and its claws might have been about 10cm to 20cm long. <\/p>\n \u2018It would have eaten small dinosaurs<\/a>, lizards and mammals \u2013 occupying a similar role in the food chain to the hyena today.\u2019<\/p>\n In other words, unlike the Tyrannosaurus rex it\u2019s closely related to, Invictibellatrix wasn\u2019t an apex predator.<\/p>\n \u2018But for humans, this dinosaur would have been more dangerous than a\u00a0T Rex,\u2019 added Dr Morrison.<\/p>\n \u2018We would have been perfectly sized prey, about a third of their body weight. <\/p>\n \t\t \u2018They definitely would have chased us. A\u00a0T Rex\u00a0would not have bothered<\/a>, as we would have been too small.\u2019<\/p>\n We don\u2019t know much about megaraptors\u00a0beyond the odd remains that don\u2019t include the bones of their dinner.<\/p>\n And there\u2019s probably more of the latter, as megaraptors\u2019 bones were unusually light and air-filled, so don\u2019t fossilise well. <\/p>\n They stomped around South America, Asia and Australia<\/a> but none of their remains had been found in Europe.<\/p>\n Yet part of an Invictibellatrix skull was found at the foot of\u00a0a cliff on the south-west coast of the Isle of Wight.<\/p>\n The fossil was acquired by the Natural History Museum in London <\/a>in 1924 and has since been \u2018sitting inside a drawer\u2019, Dr Morrison said.<\/p>\n \t\t Professor Paul Barrett, the study\u2019s senior author from the Natural History Museum, said <\/a>many dino bones have been dug up on the Isle of Wight.<\/p>\n \u2018Work like this shows the exceptional value of working with historical museum collections where there are still many discoveries to be made,\u2019 he added.<\/p>\n Researchers took a CT scan of the fossil to compare it with other meat-eating dinos, like tiny-armed tyrannosaurs and the spinosaurs, known for the sail-like spines on their backs.<\/p>\n Yet the team found the skull had an odd, oval hole and an hourglass-shaped crest, something not seen in any other known species of dinosaur.<\/p>\n Mathematical modelling also provided new insight into how megaraptors\u00a0spread over time. <\/p>\n Fossil scraps suggest they were the great hunters of the early Cretaceous\u00a0in what is now Asia before moseying to Europe. <\/p>\n Tens of millions of years later, they died out in northern Europe while megaraptors\u00a0elsewhere grew larger and developed 35cm-long claws.<\/p>\n Researchers aren\u2019t sure why megaraptors\u00a0went extinct in some places but not others. It\u2019s thought they may have been unable to compete with their younger offshoots, tyrannosaurs, during the late Cretaceous\u00a0period.<\/p>\n \u2018Who knows what else is waiting to be discovered,\u2019 added Dr Morrison.<\/p>\n Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n For more stories like this, check our news page<\/a>.<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow![\"Undated](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/SEI_316552938-ef4c.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe chunk of bone had a unique hole in it (Picture: The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n![\"Jodi,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/SEI_316448651-ba98.jpg\")
\n\t\tUnlike the T Rex, megaraptors\u00a0don\u2019t fossilise well (Picture: AP Photo\/Yuki Iwamura)<\/p>\n![\"EMBARGOED](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/SEI_108790956-5ddb.jpg\")
\n\t\tMany dinosaur bones have been unearthed on the Isle of Wight (Picture: SWNS)<\/p>\n
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