For the first time, razor sharp teeth of tyrannosaurs were found in the Bexhill-on-Sea region of coastal East Sussex, England. These teeth indicate that a bevy of carnivorous dinosaurs including tyrannosaurs, spinosaurs, and members of the Velociraptor family stalked this region about 135 million years ago. The findings are detailed in a study published December 5 in the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
Predators everywhere
Finding traces of tyrannosaurs in this area is particularly notable. In over 200 years, paleontologists haven’t found many tyrannosaur remains in the sediments that date back to the Cretaceous Period in this part of England. The tyrannosaurs living here likely would have been about a third of the size of their more famous North American cousin Tyrannosaurus rex. Paleontologists believe that they hunted small dinosaurs and other reptiles along the floodplain.
Meat-eaters like tyrannosaurs and Velociraptors all belong to a group of dinosaurs called theropods. The teeth that they used to rip apart their fleshy prey are complex and vary in size, shape, and in the anatomy of their serrated edges.
“Dinosaur teeth are tough fossils and are usually preserved more frequently than bone,” study co-author and University of Southampton paleontologist Chris Barker said in a statement. “For that reason, they’re often crucial when we want to reconstruct the diversity of an ecosystem.”
In this new study, the team deployed several techniques to analyse the fossilized teeth because they were complex and they didn’t have complete skeletons to work with. They analyzed the species’ evolutionary history and used statistics methods and machine learning to help classify the specimens.
“Assigning isolated teeth to theropod groups can be challenging, especially as many features evolve independently amongst different lineages. This is why we employed various methods to help refine our findings, leading to more confident classifications,” study co-author and University of York PhD student Lucy Handford said in a statement.
Their analysis suggests that spinosars, mid-sized tyrannosaurs and tiny Velociraptor-like theropods called dromaeosaurs were all present here about 135 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period.
[Related: New species of extinct marine reptile found with help from 11-year-old child.]
Getting some local help
The collection of a local retired quarryman named Dave Brockhurst was also key to this discovery. Brockhurst has spent the last 30 years uncovering fossils from the nearby Ashdown Brickworks and has found specimens ranging from tiny shark teeth up to partial dinosaur skeletons. He has donated about 5,000 of his specimens to Bexhill Museum.
Since theropods are exceptionally rare at the site, Brockhurst has only found 10 or so specimens in the area over three decades.
“As a child I was fascinated by dinosaurs and never thought how close they could be,” Brockhurst said in a statement. “Many years later I started work at Ashdown and began looking for fossils. I’m happy with tiny fish scales or huge thigh bones, although the preservation of the dinosaur teeth really stands out for me.”
More dino hotspots
Additionally, the East Sussex dinosaurs are older than those from some of the more well-known Cretaceous sediments found on the Isle of Wight. The tiny island in the English Channel is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve that was once home to a “hell heron” called Ceratosuchops inferodios, and iguanadon with a bulky nostrils named Brighstoneus simmondsi, tank-like armoured dinosaurs called ankylosaurs, and more.
[Related: T. rex was probably about as intelligent as a crocodile.]
These new discoveries indicate that there are still more paleontological discoveries on England’s mainland just waiting to be uncovered.
“200 years after the naming of the first dinosaur, Megalosaurus, there are still really big discoveries to be made,” study co-author and University of Southampton paleobiologist Neil Gostling said in a statement. “Dinosaur palaeobiology is alive and well.”
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