New Dinosaur With Eight-Inch Claws Could Have Been More Dangerous to Humans Than T. Rex

A Tyrannosaurus rex might have been terrifying to encounter, but scientists have discovered a smaller dinosaur that could have considered humans the perfect meal. The discovery challenges assumptions about which prehistoric species would have been most dangerous to encounter.

On Wednesday, researchers from University College London announced the discovery of Invictibellatrix amberina, a tiger-sized predator with claws reaching eight inches. The findings, published in Royal Society Open Science, came from a skull fossil that had spent nearly a century overlooked at London's Natural History Museum. The dinosaur lived on what is now the Isle of Wight around 120 million years ago.

Why This Dinosaur Could Have Been More Dangerous

The difference comes down to each predator's hunting style. T. rex was enormous, with jaws built to crush bone. Invictibellatrix was smaller, agile and equipped with powerful arms and long, curved claws that researchers believe it used to grab and tear at prey.

For humans, that difference could have been critical. 'We would have been perfectly sized prey, about a third of their body weight,' said Dr Cassius Morrison of University College London, who led the research. They definitely would have chased us. A T. rex would not have bothered, as we would have been too small.'

That does not mean Invictibellatrix could defeat T. rex in a fight. The larger dinosaur was a far more powerful predator. Morrison's comparison concerns which animal would have been more inclined to hunt something human-sized. Neither ever encountered humans, who appeared millions of years later.

What Did Invictibellatrix Amberina Look Like?

The dinosaur was a feathered, two-legged predator measuring three to four metres from head to tail and standing just over 1.5 metres high at the hips. Its most striking weapons were its hands. Researchers estimate the claws could have measured between 10 and 20 centimetres, or four to eight inches, giving the animal a very different hunting style from the famously short-armed T. rex.

Invictibellatrix belonged to a group called megaraptorans, which included agile carnivores that hunted smaller dinosaurs, lizards and mammals. The name means 'unconquered female warrior', a reference to the group's descendants, which later became dominant predators in parts of the southern hemisphere.

How Scientists Found the New Dinosaur

The fossil itself was hardly new. Amateur collector Reginald Walter Tooley found the partial braincase on the Isle of Wight's south-west coast. The Natural History Museum acquired it in 1924, but it remained largely unstudied for decades.

Researchers used CT scanning and detailed comparisons of skull anatomy to recognise a species previously unknown to science. 'It is a real mystery that this fossil was overlooked for so long,' Morrison said.

The findings, published in Royal Society Open Science, mark the first confirmed discovery of a megaraptoran in Europe. They also offer clues about how the group spread before larger relatives evolved in South America, Australia and Antarctica. Some eventually grew to elephant-like sizes, with claws reaching approximately 35 centimetres.

The Isle of Wight has yielded dinosaur fossils for more than two centuries, scientists noted. For researchers, the discovery leaves researchers with another intriguing possibility: other prehistoric predators could still be waiting in museum drawers.