Researchers recently cleaned up a family of dinosaurs that once served as a “waste basket” for loosely related species. The group now represents small herbivores that appear to be unique to Europe, according to a new paper.
The study announces the discovery of Vectidromeus insularis, a specimen found in the fossil beds that line the coast of the Isle of Wight, off the coast of England. These fossils belonged to a juvenile, chicken-size dinosaur with bird-like hind limbs that lived about 125 million years ago.
The paleontologists behind the find aren’t sure about the size of the final dinosaur, which could have grown to a much larger size. Nevertheless, they’ve classified it as part of the Hypsilophodont family, which once contained several different species. Researchers have since cleaned most of those out and moved them to other families, leaving only the founding member, Hypsilophodon foxii.
Like V. insularis, H. foxii ...
