Comptonatus
Comptonatus was a big, plant-eating dinosaur that lived on the Isle of Wight in England about 125 million years ago. It had a beak and walked on two legs, munching on ferns and cycads. Its skeleton is the most complete iguanodontian dinosaur found in the Wealden Group in a hundred years!61
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Fun facts
Comptonatus was named in 2024, making it one of the newest dinosaur species.6
Its name means 'the Compton thunderer' because it was found at Compton Bay and was a large animal.1
The skeleton was discovered in 2013 by fossil collector Nick Chase, and it took over a decade to study and name.1
Comptonatus had a straight lower jaw bone (dentary) and a very wide prepubic blade, which are unique features.1
It lived alongside other dinosaurs like Mantellisaurus, Brighstoneus, and Iguanodon in the same area.1
The fossils were found in a plant debris bed that also contained fish scales, crocodile teeth, and conifer trunks.1
Most asked questions about Comptonatus
?How big was Comptonatus?
About 4 metres (13 feet) long. That is roughly the length of a small car.4
?What did Comptonatus eat?
It was a herbivore, eating plants like conifers, cycads and tree-ferns that grew in its environment.4
?Did Comptonatus have any special features?
Yes, it had a straight lower jaw bone and a very wide prepubic blade. It also had large thumb spikes that may have been used for defense or fighting.41
?When did Comptonatus live?
It lived during the early Cretaceous period, about 125 million years ago.5
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Comptonatus
- Named by
- Lockwood et al. 20246
- Group
- Beaked plant-eaters
- Family / clade
- Hadrosauriformes6
- Classification
- Ornithischia > Ornithopoda > Iguanodontia6
- Age of the rocks
- 126 to 121 million years (Barremian)6
- Rock formations
- Wessex6
- Countries
- United Kingdom6
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database6
- Discovery
- Comptonatus chasei was discovered in 2013 by Nick Chase on National Trust land at Compton Bay, Isle of Wight. It was named by Jeremy Lockwood, David Martill, and Susannah Maidment in 2024.1
- Still debated
- Scientists are still debating exactly how Comptonatus is related to other iguanodontian dinosaurs, because it has a mix of features seen in different groups.1
Where the facts come from
- Full article: Comptonatus chasei, a new iguanodontian dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight, southern England (tandfonline.com)
- Comptonatus chasei | Dinosaur Database by DinoAnimals.com (dinoanimals.com)
- The most complete UK dinosaur in a century found on the Isle of Wight | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
- Comptonatus, an iguanodontian dinosaur from the Isle of Wight - DinoWight (dinowight.org.uk)
- Comptonatus (en.wikipedia.org)
- Comptonatus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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