New 128-Million-Year-Old “Sail-Backed” Ornithopod Dinosaur Discovered on Isle of Wight, England!

Paleontologists have unveiled Velacervix dorsalis (“sail-necked”), a spectacular new ornithopod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous WesSєx Formation of the Isle of Wight whose dramatically elongated neural spines form a prominent back sail — the first confirmed sail-backed ornithopod ever found in Europe.

Described June 2026 in PeerJ by a team from the Dinosaur Isle Museum and University of Southampton, the partial skeleton — including vertebrae, hind limbs, and jaw fragments — was recovered from the iconic red and purple mudstones of Brighstone Bay. Dated to approximately 128 million years ago (Barremian stage), the animal reached 5–6 meters long and belonged to the iguanodontian lineage that later gave rise to hadrosaurs.

The most striking feature is a row of dramatically elongated dorsal neural spines reaching up to 60 cm tall — roughly six times the height of the vertebral centra. Similar structures in other dinosaurs such as Spinosaurus and Ouranosaurus are interpreted as thermoregulatory devices, visual display structures, or fat-storage humps. Lead author Dr. Martin Munt states: “This is completely unexpected for a European ornithopod. The sail places Velacervix alongside Ouranosaurus from Africa as one of only two sail-backed iguanodontians known worldwide — hinting at a shared ancestry or parallel evolution.”

The discovery illuminates the surprising diversity of Wealden ornithopods during the Early Cretaceous, when Britain was a warm, low-lying archipelago teeming with dinosaurs. CT scans of the neural spines reveal a richly vascularized internal structure consistent with thermoregulation or display, while jaw morphology suggests a diet of tough, fibrous plants along humid floodplains.

As more material from Brighstone Bay is prepared, Velacervix dorsalis promises to transform our understanding of ornithopod diversity in Early Cretaceous Europe — proving that even the well-excavated Isle of Wight still holds dramatic dinosaur surprises.