The dinosaur, comprising 149 bones, was unearthed in the cliffs of Compton Bay on the Isle of Wight, off the southern coast of England, in 2013 by the late fossil collector Nick Chase. It was christened 'Comptonatus chasei' in honor of Chase.
'Nick possessed an extraordinary knack for discovering dinosaur bones... This is truly an exceptional find,' remarked Lockwood.
'It aids us in comprehending the various types of dinosaurs that inhabited England during the Early Cretaceous,' explained Lockwood, who is also the lead author of a new paper detailing the species, published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. The remains of a carnivorous dinosaur, belonging to an ancient predator larger than any known from the entirety of Europe, were uncovered on the island in 2022. This discovery also dates back to the Cretaceous Period.
