>Isolated teeth found in southern England could represent some of the earliest relatives of birds ever discovered.
>Teeth found in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Dorset are believed to belong to the maniraptorans, a group of dinosaurs, including *Velociraptor*, which include birds and their closest relatives.
>A vareity of maniraptorans, such as *Velociraptor*, are thought to have been covered in feathers, based on fossil evidence and their close relationship with living birds.
>Researchers from the Museum and Birkbeck College used pioneering machine learning techniques to train computer models to identify the mystery teeth, which push back the origin of some of the group’s members by almost 30 million years.
>
>Simon Wills, a PhD student at the Museum who led the research, says, ‘Previous research had suggested that the maniraptorans were around in the Middle Jurassic, but the actual fossil evidence was patchy and disputed. Along with fossils found elsewhere, this research suggests the group had already achieved a global distribution by this time.’
>’The teeth we analysed include what are currently the only troodontid and therizinosaur fossils ever recorded from the UK and are the oldest evidence of these dinosaurs anywhere in the world.’
>The troodontids are an extinct, bird-like group, while the therizinosaurs are a clade of dinosaurs with unusual characteristics such as extremely large claws measuring over 50 centimetres long.
>The findings of the study were published in the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
Troodontids in the mid-Jurassic! Awesome! A really cool group of dinosaurs!
Also machine learning to help dinosaur identification. Also awesome!
British fossils? From those British 🦕?
Was the globe not just one big land mass, when those”British” dinosaurs roamed the lands?
Britain proving great as always (only in history of course, we’re bum at it now)
There is a lot still waiting to be discovered with Britain’s dinosaurs. They often get underlooked however, and it doesn’t help that researchers often don’t want to work with collectors.
​
A friend of mine has a partial spinosaurid jaw which is millions of years older than other spinosaurid fossils found in the UK. Another friend has the most complete pachystropheus fossil found and yet there is no interest from scientists
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Excerpt from the linked content:^1
>Isolated teeth found in southern England could represent some of the earliest relatives of birds ever discovered.
>Teeth found in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Dorset are believed to belong to the maniraptorans, a group of dinosaurs, including *Velociraptor*, which include birds and their closest relatives.
>A vareity of maniraptorans, such as *Velociraptor*, are thought to have been covered in feathers, based on fossil evidence and their close relationship with living birds.
>Researchers from the Museum and Birkbeck College used pioneering machine learning techniques to train computer models to identify the mystery teeth, which push back the origin of some of the group’s members by almost 30 million years.
>
>Simon Wills, a PhD student at the Museum who led the research, says, ‘Previous research had suggested that the maniraptorans were around in the Middle Jurassic, but the actual fossil evidence was patchy and disputed. Along with fossils found elsewhere, this research suggests the group had already achieved a global distribution by this time.’
>’The teeth we analysed include what are currently the only troodontid and therizinosaur fossils ever recorded from the UK and are the oldest evidence of these dinosaurs anywhere in the world.’
>The troodontids are an extinct, bird-like group, while the therizinosaurs are a clade of dinosaurs with unusual characteristics such as extremely large claws measuring over 50 centimetres long.
>The findings of the study were published in the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
^1 James Ashworth (14 Apr. 2023), “First British fossils of therizinosaur and troodontid dinosaurs are world’s oldest”, National History Museum, https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2023/april/first-british-fossils-therizinosaur-troodontid-dinosaurs-worlds-oldest.html
Troodontids in the mid-Jurassic! Awesome! A really cool group of dinosaurs!
Also machine learning to help dinosaur identification. Also awesome!
British fossils? From those British 🦕?
Was the globe not just one big land mass, when those”British” dinosaurs roamed the lands?
Britain proving great as always (only in history of course, we’re bum at it now)
There is a lot still waiting to be discovered with Britain’s dinosaurs. They often get underlooked however, and it doesn’t help that researchers often don’t want to work with collectors.
​
A friend of mine has a partial spinosaurid jaw which is millions of years older than other spinosaurid fossils found in the UK. Another friend has the most complete pachystropheus fossil found and yet there is no interest from scientists