Data from: A highly pneumatic ‘mid Cretaceous’ theropod from the British Lower Greensand

A series of axial elements from the Aptian Ferruginous Sandstone Formation
of the Lower Greensand Group, discovered on the foreshore near Knock Cliff
on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom (UK) are – bar some isolated teeth –
the youngest non-avian theropod remains reported from the British
Mesozoic. These specimens have the potential to shed light on a poorly
known section of the European dinosaur record. A consistency in size,
appearance and adhering matrix indicate that the vertebrae belong to the
same individual. This was a mid-sized tetanuran, the presence of several
diagnostic characters indicating that it should be recognised as a new
taxon, herein namedVectaerovenator inopinatus. The cervical and
dorsal vertebrae are camerate and highly pneumatic. Tetanuran affinities
include opisthocoelous cervicals and pneumatic foramina located within
fossae, however assigning this specimen to a specific clade is
problematic. Within Tetanurae, Vectaerovenatorpossesses axial
structures and homoplastic features seen in megalosauroids,
carcharodontosaurians and certain coelurosaurs. Not only
is Vectaerovenatorone of the UK’s youngest non-bird dinosaurs,
and one of few valid British Greensand taxa, it is also the first
diagnosable theropod taxon to be named from Aptian deposits of Europe.