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3d ago

Museum Fossil From Wales Named New Triassic Theropod, Newtonsaurus Cambrensis

Photogrammetry enabled a 3D reconstruction confirming it as a large predatory dinosaur.

Image
The two separate blocks containing the jaw impression of Newtonsaurus cambrensis. Image credit: Evans et al., doi: 10.1016/j.pgeola.2025.101142.

Overview

  • The peer‑reviewed description was published September 11, 2025, in the Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association.
  • The specimen, long labeled Zanclodon cambrensis, is formally renamed Newtonsaurus cambrensis in honor of Edwin Tully Newton.
  • The fossil is preserved only as natural moulds of a left jaw, with interior and exterior impressions split between the National Museum of Wales and the British Geological Survey.
  • Digital inversion and fusion of the moulds revealed serrated teeth and dentary features diagnosing an early neotheropod near the origins of Coelophysoidea and Averostra.
  • An estimated 60 cm jaw indicates a 5–7 m theropod from latest Triassic beds at Stormy Down, likely the Cotham Member of the Lilstock Formation, underscoring the discovery potential of Welsh collections.