The already-reported Isle of Wight skull fragment — the new species *Invictibellatrix amberina* — has a bigger significance than a single new name: researchers say it is the first conclusive evidence of a megaraptoran dinosaur in Europe.

Megaraptorans were previously known only from Asia, Australia and South America, so a European specimen changes the map of where these predators lived and how they moved between continents.

Both Euronews and Live Science report the species was described in a study in *Royal Society Open Science* published in mid-October 2026.

The surprising part is biogeographic. Scientists had long suspected megaraptorans originated in Asia before becoming dominant predators across the southern supercontinent Gondwana, but European fossils were missing from that story.

According to Live Science, the study's evolutionary models suggest *I. amberina* descended from Asian megaraptors that dispersed into Europe around 130 million years ago, and that members of the group then moved through what is now Africa and into Gondwana via temporary land connections across the shallow Tethys Ocean.

Study co-author Charlie Scherer, a doctoral student at UCL Earth Sciences, said the species is "the first proof we have that megaraptorans were also present in Europe and that they reached Gondwana this way rather than island-hopping further south," as Live Science reports.

Why megaraptors later vanished from northern areas — climate change or competition with other predatory dinosaurs — remains unexplained.

The identification turned on modern scanning rather than new fieldwork.

Euronews and Live Science both report that researchers used micro-CT scanning to examine the fragment's internal structure and build 3D digital models of the space that once held the dinosaur's brain, as part of a study on dinosaur braincases.

Live Science reports that several features differentiated the specimen, including an almost oval opening where the spinal cord entered the skull and an unusual, hourglass-shaped ridge at the back of the braincase; computer-based evolutionary analyses then placed the fossil within the Megaraptora family tree.

The genus name combines Latin words meaning "unconquered" and "female warrior," with "amberina" referring to amber found in the rocks associated with the fossil.

At an estimated 3 to 4 metres long, about 1.5 metres tall and, per Live Science, roughly 440 to 660 pounds, *I. amberina* was one of the smallest known megaraptors — tiny next to Argentina's *Maip macrothorax*, which may have reached about 33 feet and the weight of an elephant.

Lead author Dr Cassius Morrison of UCL told Euronews that the species would have eaten small dinosaurs, lizards and mammals, playing a role in the food chain similar to a hyena today.

"It was not the apex predator of its time, but for humans this dinosaur would have been more dangerous than a T. rex," Morrison said, explaining that a human would have been perfectly sized prey at about a third of its body weight.

The researchers also suggested it may have had feathers, though that cannot be confirmed from the specimen.

The find lands just as London's museum institutions are in the spotlight: the London Museum reopens this November in a £437m repurposed Smithfield market site, per reporting carried by The Independent. For wildlife readers, the deeper point is that historic collections still pay species dividends.

"Despite over 200 years of collecting, the Isle of Wight continues to surprise us with new dinosaur species, and finds of carnivorous dinosaurs, such as Invictibellatrix, have been particularly elusive," said senior author Professor Paul Barrett of the Natural History Museum, in quotes carried by Euronews and Live Science.

"Work like this shows the exceptional value of working with historical museum collections where there are still many discoveries to be made."

The fossil was found on the southwest coast of the Isle of Wight by amateur hunter Reginald Walter Tooley, whose collection of more than 1,000 specimens went to the museum after his death in 1924.

Researchers say more megaraptor fossils like *I. amberina* could help pin down the exact route these predators took over millions of years, and why they disappeared from northern regions — Live Science notes that climate shifts or competition with other predatory dinosaurs may have contributed, but neither is yet proven.

Morrison, quoted by Live Science, called it "a real mystery that this fossil was overlooked for so long, sitting in a drawer for nearly 100 years," adding that lots of bones are found on the Isle of Wight and "who knows what else is waiting to be discovered."

Although the fossil preserves no arms, comparisons with its closest relatives suggest claws possibly 4 to 8 inches long. The published study, in *Royal Society Open Science*, now gives other European finds a reference point they have never had before.