![\"Life](\"https:\/\/cdn.sci.news\/images\/enlarge14\/image_15156e-Paludohadros-proudlovii.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nLife reconstruction of the iguanodontian dinosaur Paludohadros proudlovii; in the distance, the large predatory dinosaur Baryonyx walkeri can be seen. Image credit: Guilherme Gehr.<\/p>\n
The new species, Paludohadros proudlovii, belonged to the iguanodontians, a group of plant-eating dinosaurs known for the spikes on their thumbs.<\/p>\n
The animal lived in the swampy lowlands of what is now Surrey, southern England, during the Early Cretaceous, around 125 million years ago.<\/p>\n
It is the first iguanodontian dinosaur to be formally named from the Weald Clay Formation of Smokejacks Brickworks, the geological layer where it was found.<\/p>\n
\u201cIguanodontia was one of the first dinosaur groups to be named and is one of the most diverse and widespread ornithischian clades, with fossils known from the Middle Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous,\u201d said lead author Ricardo Sacamoto, a Ph.D. student at the Natural History Museum, London and the University of S\u00e3o Paulo, and his colleagues.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt includes the first named ornithischian genus, Iguanodon, and was defined in 2021 as the smallest clade containing Dryosaurus altus, Iguanodon bernissartensis, Rhabdodon priscus, and Tenontosaurus tilletti.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe clade\u2019s diversity was relatively low during the Jurassic, although recent descriptions and reinterpretations suggest a greater diversity than previously thought.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Paludohadros proudlovii individual, about 5 m (16 feet) long and weighing an estimated 1.5 to 2 tons, was about the size of a rhinoceros.<\/p>\n
Its bones had not fully matured, so it was probably a juvenile that could have grown to twice that size.<\/p>\n
\u201cPaludohadros proudlovii is the first species I\u2019ve ever named and I\u2019m honored to have been able to work on it,\u201d Sacamoto said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still remember the incredible moment when I realized that this was a new species that no one had ever identified before.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPaludohadros proudlovii was found just 100 m (328 feet) away from Baryonyx, whose fossils we also look after at the Natural History Museum, London,\u201d said senior author Professor Susannah Maidment, a paleontologist at the Natural History Museum, London and the University of Birmingham.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile Baryonyx is best known for eating fish, this dinosaur\u2019s last meal also included a baby iguanodontian.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t tell for certain which species this came from, so it\u2019s possible that Baryonyx could have been scavenging on the remains of young Paludohadros proudlovii or even hunting them when it had the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n