Velociraptor relative named 20 years after Isle of Wight find

Dating to the Early Cretaceous period, over 100 million years ago, Vectiraptor greeni was the same size as a wolf and about three metres from nose to tail.

It was named after amateur paleontologist Mick Green, who discovered bones washed from rocks on the Island’s south coast.

He showed them to Isle of Wight palaeontologist Megan Jacobs, of Wight Coast Fossils, and Bath University's Dr Nick Longrich.

The bones, discovered on the south of the Isle of Wight.

Dinosaur Isle will now look after them.

Study of the bones, by teams from the universities of Portsmouth and Bath, identified them as new and found them to be from an older, more heavily built, relative of Velociraptor.

Vectiraptor greeni had finely serrated teeth to bite off pieces of its kill and it may have climbed trees, like a leopard, using its strong arms and talons.

The bones have been donated to Dinosaur Isle in Sandown.

Megan said: "This dinosaur is incredibly exciting, adding to the huge diversity of dinosaurs here on the Isle of Wight, and helping to build a bigger picture of the Early Cretaceous world.

"It also serves as an excellent example of the importance of amateur fossil collectors and how working with them can produce important scientific research, which would otherwise not be possible."

Megan Jacob's artwork shows what Vectiraptor greeni may have looked like.

Mick's discovery would have prowled through forests around 125 million years ago.

Professor Dave Martill, from the University of Portsmouth, said similar animals have previously been found in Mongolia, suggesting that England may have been on an important route for dinosaurs, crossing land bridges.