London. A previously unknown dinosaur has been discovered in Britain. With 149 bones, the discovery is the most complete dinosaur skeleton found in Britain in a century, according to a report by Britain’s PA news agency.

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The animal, whose species has been named “Comptonatus Chasei,” was found on the Isle of Wight, an island in southern England known for its rich fossil deposits. It is the eighth dinosaur species discovered on the Isle of Wight in the past five years.

The name is a combination of the place where it was found, Compton Bay, and the name of the late explorer Nick Chase. The dinosaur – a herbivore that weighed a ton and was about the size of a male bison – lived about 125 million years ago.

An undated hand-out photograph issued by the University of Portsmouth shows the foot bone of the dinosaur Comptonatus Chasei.

Source: University of Portsmouth/PA Medi

Footprints indicate a way of life

“Comptonatus Chasei” belonged to the Iguanodontia group and probably lived in herds, suggested by dinosaur footprints found nearby, Jeremy Lockwood said, according to PA. “It is possible that large herds of these dinosaurs shook the floodplains here when they were startled by predators,” the researcher said.

The PhD candidate studied the fossil at the University of Portsmouth. He says the discovery shows that the Isle of Wight and surrounding areas were once among the most diverse ecosystems in the world.

Evidence for evolution after mass extinctions

Scientists hope the discovery, published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, will yield information about how habitats recovered after a mass extinction at the end of the Jurassic period.