來見識兩種新恐龍

British palaeontologists have unearthed two new species of dinosaur on the unassuming, 380 square kilometre Isle of Wight, off England’s south coast, according to a new study out today in the journal Scientific Reports.

根據(jù)今天發(fā)表在《科學(xué)報告》雜志上的一項新研究，英國古生物學(xué)家在距離英格蘭南部海岸380平方公里、毫不起眼的懷特島上發(fā)現(xiàn)了兩種新的恐龍物種。

The two new creatures appear to be types of spinosaurids, predatory theropod dinosaurs related to the giant Spinosaurus.

這兩種新生物似乎是棘龍的一種，一種食肉獸腳亞目恐龍，與巨型棘龍有親緣關(guān)系。

The haul of bones was discovered over a period of years by amateur fossil hunters and later a crew of researchers from Dinosaur Isle Museum, on a beach near the picturesque village of Brighstone. In all, over 50 bones were recovered from the site, from rocks dating to the Early Cretaceous some 125 million years ago.

多年來，業(yè)余化石獵人和后來恐龍島博物館的一組研究人員，在風景如畫的布里格斯通村附近的海灘上發(fā)現(xiàn)了這批化石。在遺址中總共發(fā)現(xiàn)了50多塊骨頭，這些骨頭的年代可以追溯到大約1.25億年前的白堊紀早期。

Now, new analysis of the bones by researchers from the University of Southampton suggests they belonged to two new species previously unknown to science.

現(xiàn)在，來自南安普頓大學(xué)的研究人員對這些骨頭進行的新分析表明，它們屬于兩個此前科學(xué)界未知的新物種。

“We found the skulls to differ not only from Baryonyx [the UK’s only spinosaurid specimen before now], but also one another, suggesting the UK housed a greater diversity of spinosaurids than previously thought,” says lead author Chris Barker, of the University of Southampton.

南安普敦大學(xué)的首席作者Baryonyx說：“我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，這些頭骨不僅與重龍(英國迄今為止唯一的棘龍標本)不同，而且彼此之間也不同，這表明英國的棘龍種類比之前認為的要多。”

But co-author Darren Naish, an expert in British theropod dinosaurs, says the discovery of spinosaurids on the Isle of Wight was a long time coming.

但合著者、英國獸腳類恐龍專家達倫·奈什(Darren Naish)表示，在懷特島上發(fā)現(xiàn)棘龍是一個漫長的過程。

“We’ve known for a couple of decades now that Baryonyx-like dinosaurs awaited discovery on the Isle of Wight, but finding the remains of two such animals in close succession was a huge surprise.”

“幾十年來，我們一直知道懷特島上有重龍類恐龍等著被發(fā)現(xiàn)，但連續(xù)發(fā)現(xiàn)兩具這樣的動物的遺骸是一個巨大的驚喜。”

Although the skeletons are incomplete, the researchers estimate that both species would have been around nine metres long; it’s likely they grabbed prey with their metre-long skulls.

盡管骨骼還不完整，研究人員估計這兩個物種都大約有9米長，它們很可能是用一米長的頭骨捕捉獵物的。

The first species has been named Ceratosuchops inferodios, which translates, evocatively, to the “horned, crocodile-faced hell heron”. The creature had a series of low horns and bumps on its hefty brow, and its hunting style would have been similar to – though much more frightening than – that of a heron.

第一個物種被命名為Ceratosuchops inferodios，直譯過來就是“長著角、鱷魚臉的地獄鷺”。這種生物有一排的低角和隆起的額頭，它的狩獵方式與蒼鷺相似——盡管比蒼鷺可怕得多。

The second species was named Riparovenator milnerae, translated as “Milner’s riverbank hunter”, in honour of the late British palaeontologist Angela Milner, who studied and named Baryonyx.

第二個物種被命名為Riparoventor milnerae，翻譯為“米爾納的河岸獵人”，以紀念已故的英國古生物學(xué)家安吉拉·米爾納，她研究并命名了重龍。