125-Million-Year-Old Megaraptoran Identified in England

Researchers have identified a new meat-eating dinosaur, Invictabellatrix amberina, from a partial skull found on England’s Isle of Wight and preserved in a museum collection for more than a century. The roughly 125-million-year-old animal was a megaraptoran, a relative of Tyrannosaurus rex, but had a slender head, long arms and large claws, suggesting it was lighter and more agile than a T. rex. Scientists identified it using distinctive features revealed in a CT scan; whether it had feathers remains uncertain, though some close relatives did. The discovery is notable because fossils of these predators are rare and may help researchers understand the group’s history.