Retired GP discovers dinosaur with unusually large nose
The discovery was one of the GP's 'happiest days of lockdown'
A new dinosaur with an unusually 'bulbous' nose has been identified by the University of Portsmouth and Natural History Museum scientists.
The new species, named Brighstoneus simmondsi, was discovered by Jeremy Lockwood a retired GP from the Isle of Wight.
He spent lockdown rummaging through boxes of hundreds of old bones as he set himself the task of cataloguing every iguanodon bone discovered in the area.
"Last year during lockdown, after four years of going through boxes and boxes of bones, I decided to reconstruct the skull of a specimen, which had been in storage since 1978, and to my astonishment, I noticed the end of its nose was bulbous," he added.
"This discovery made it one of the happiest days of lockdown because it was a sign there really was something different about this particular dinosaur from the Isle of Wight."
Dr Lockwood also studies for a PhD in the school of environment, geography and geoscience at the University of Portsmouth.
He said: "For over 100 years, we'd only seen two types of dinosaurs on the Isle of Wight - the plant-eating Iguanodon bernissartensis and Mantellisaurus atherfieldensis.
"I was convinced that subtle differences between bones would reveal a new species, so I set out to measure, photograph and study the anatomy of each bone.
His background in medicine and his studies in anatomy also helped him when identifying the difference in the dinosaur's bone anatomy.
The 'Brighstoneus simmondsi'
Dr Lockwood has now named the new species Brighstoneus simmondsi, for a study published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.
Brighstoneus is named after the village of Brighstone on the Isle of Wight, which is close to the excavation site.
The latter part of the name is in honour of Keith Simmonds, an amateur collector, who was involved in finding and excavating the specimen.