Valdosaurus dinosaur, well-preserved fossil found in England

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2 September 2015

“Dryosaurus” is a genus of an ornithopod dinosaur that lived in the Late Jurassic period. It was an iguanodont. Fossils have been found in the western United States, and were first discovered in the late 19th century. “Valdosaurus canaliculatus” and “Dysalotosaurus lettowvorbecki” were both formerly considered to represent species of “Dryosaurus”.

“Dryosaurus” had a long neck, long, slender legs and a long, stiff tail. Its arms, however, with five fingers on each hand, were short. Known specimens were about 8 to 14 feet long and weighed 170 to 200 pounds. However, the adult size is unknown, as no known adult specimens of the genus have been found.

“Dryosaurus” had a horny beak and cheek teeth and, like other ornithopods, was a herbivore. Some scientists suggest that it had cheek-like structures to prevent the loss of food while the animal processed it in the mouth.

A quick and agile runner with strong legs, “Dryosaurus” used its stiff tail as a counterbalance. It probably relied on its speed as a main defense against carnivorous dinosaurs.

The teeth of “Dryosaurus” were, according to museum curator John Foster, characterized by “a strong median ridge on the lateral surface.” “Dryosaurus” subsisted primarily on low growing vegetation in ancient floodplains.

A “Dryosaurus” hatchling found at Dinosaur National Monument in Utah confirmed that “Dryosaurus” followed similar patterns of craniofacial development to other vertebrates; the eyes were proportionally large while young and the muzzle proportionally short. As the animal grew, its eyes became proportionally smaller and its snout proportionally longer.

By Pete Buchholz in Britain:

A specimen of the dryosaurid Valdosaurus has been discovered on the Isle of Wight

The most complete specimen of the poorly known dryosaurid Valdosaurus canaliculatus has been discovered in Lower Cretaceous rocks on the Isle of Wight. This new discovery helps flesh out the anatomy of this dinosaur and is one of the most complete dinosaur specimens known from England.

The Isle of Wight off the south coast of England is a fossil-hunter’s paradise. Rocks of the Wessex Formation, deposited during the Early Cretaceous, approximately 130 million years ago, are exposed in numerous locations across the island. The Wessex Formation preserves numerous fish, turtles, crocodilians, and pterosaurs. It also has a rather famous dinosaur fauna, including the spinosaurid Baryonyx, the early tyrannosaur Eotyrannus, a number of fragmentary sauropods, and the ornithopods Iguanodon, Mantellisaurus, Hypsilophodon, and Valdosaurus.