Vectidromeus

Say it: VEK-tih-DROH-mee-us

Name means: “Isle of Wight runner”1

Ate: PlantsBeaked plant-eatersEarly Cretaceous

Vectidromeus was a small, fast dinosaur that lived on an island in what is now England. It had a beak for nibbling plants and ran on its two back legs to escape bigger predators.1 4

Lived

143 to 100 million years ago4

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Isle of Wight, England, United Kingdom1 4

Food

Plants4

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Vectidromeus was named in 2024, making it one of the newest dinosaurs discovered.1

The only known fossil is from a young dinosaur, not a full-grown adult.1

Its bones were found near Sudmoor Point on the Isle of Wight, in rocks that were once a river floodplain.1 2

Vectidromeus lived about 125 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period.4

Scientists think Vectidromeus was a fast runner, because its leg bones are long and slender like those of other running dinosaurs.1

Vectidromeus is only known from the Isle of Wight, and its closest relative Hypsilophodon is also found there, suggesting these small herbivores were unique to Europe.2

AI-made picture of Vectidromeus — An AI-made picture of how Vectidromeus might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Vectidromeus

?How big was Vectidromeus?

About the size of a chicken, but it was a juvenile and may have grown much larger.3

?What did Vectidromeus eat?

It was a herbivore, meaning it ate plants. It had a beak for nibbling plants.3

?When did Vectidromeus live?

It lived about 125 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period.1

?Is Vectidromeus a dinosaur?

Yes, it is a dinosaur. It belongs to the group Ornithischia and the family Hypsilophodontidae.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Vectidromeus
Named by: Longrich et al. 20244
Group: Beaked plant-eaters
Family / clade: Hypsilophodontidae4
Classification: Ornithischia > Ornithopoda4
Age of the rocks: 143 to 100 million years (Berriasian / Albian)4
Countries: United Kingdom4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Vectidromeus was named by Nick Longrich and colleagues in 2024, based on a partial skeleton found on the Isle of Wight, England.1 4
Still debated: Scientists are not sure whether Vectidromeus belongs to the family Hypsilophodontidae or to Dryosauridae, because the only known skeleton is from a juvenile.1

Where the facts come from

Vectidromeus (en.wikipedia.org)
Vectidromeus insularis, a new hypsilophodontid dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight, England - ADS (ui.adsabs.harvard.edu)
Isle of Wight fossil shows Europe had different herbivorous dinosaurs to Asia and America (bath.ac.uk)
Vectidromeus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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