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Description
Vectiraptor greeni
The United Kingdom is where dinosaurs were first discovered. For nearly 200 years, countless dinosaurs have been unearthed and described from the first theropod ever found Megalosaurus, to the carnosaur Neovenator, and the basal thyreophoran Scelidosaurus. However, 2021 marked the naming of a unique dinosaur, Vectiraptor greeni.

History of Discovery and Naming:

In 2004, amateur fossil hunters, Mick Green and Nick Chase were prospecting for fossils near Compton Bay. A region part of the Wessex formation, one of the most biodiverse paleontological sites in the UK on the small Isle of Wight. As they prospected into the pyrite rock face, Green found something sticking out of the rock that was flung lose from his digging. A dorsal vertebra, he could tell right away given the hollow structure of the bone that this was a dinosaur. Furthermore, the bone was highly pneumatized (filled with air sacs) meaning this was likely a theropod dinosaur. Green and Chase donated the bones to the Isle of Wight Museum County Collection Service. There the bones would reside for 17 years before further study into this bone would identify what family this animal belonged to. A dromaeosaur, the first ever named from the United Kingdom. In December 2021, paleontologists Dr.Nick Longrich, Dr.David Martill, and Megan Jacobs unveiled the name of this dinosaur, Vectiraptor greeni. The generic name derived from the Latin "Vectis", which is what the Isle of Wight was called, and the specific name after Mick Green. The entire dinosaur's name in Latin literally, “Green’s Isle of Wight Thief”.

For years, it was assumed that at this time, dromaeosaurs existed in United Kingdom. However, the fragmentary preservation of European formations from the Mesozoic has not often led to great results. Prior to this discovery, the best-known dromaeosaur from Europe is Pyroraptor from France which preserved the teeth, arm fragments, vertebra, and the iconic sickle claw. Vectiraptor further fleshes out the ecosystem of Wessex far more as there is now another small carnivore niche filled with raptors as well as other implications in European Dinosaur origins (as will be explained later).

In the 2021 paper, the authors can confirm that this is dinosaur is a dromaeosaur, to be more precise, a true dromaeosaur, Eudromaeosauria. However, its placement within the eudromaeosaur family tree is uncertain. Mainly due to the fragmentary nature of the specimen. The specimen itself consists of 2 dorsal vertebral fragments as well as part of the sacrum.
Despite its fragmentary status, the authors determined that it was a dromaeosaur given that the bones were highly pneumatized given it had very large pleurocoels (hollow regions on dinosaur bones) and had a broader neural spine similar to large-bodied dromaeosaurs. The paper describes that this animal was most similar to the famous Deinonychus from North America.

Description:

Size-wise, it was extremely close to Deinonychus from North America. While not as large as Utahraptor and Dakotaraptor, it is easily the largest dromaeosaur from Europe, around 8-11ft long and weighed approximately 185-200lbs. Aside from similarities from its spinal column and sacrum, it cannot be ascertained as to what other features this animal had (skull shape, claw size, etc.) further fossil finds will be required to further flesh out the animal. The formation of the rocks date this dinosaur to around 125,000,000 years ago during what was the apex of the diversity in the Wessex Formation.

Habitat:

Its habitat in the Wessex Formation resembled an arid to semi-arid environment, like a Mediterranean environment today with scrubland and very little forested regions. Unique in the sphere of paleontology, as a lot of dinosaur-bearing formations this rich are usually a floodplain or volcanic environment which is conducive to preserving fossils more. On the last point, it should be noted that while this region is rich, it’s rather fragmentary in terms of preservation as is seen in Vectiraptor’s case. Nonetheless, it is possible to build a picture of this region. Small dinosaurs such as Hypsilophodon would have been prey for this dinosaur, as well as some mammals, lizards. The famous Iguanodon has been found in the region and babies and maybe even juveniles could have been prey for this dinosaur as well. In competition, Vectiraptor had to compete with animals like Eotyrannus, a basal Tyrannosaur for food, however, the apex predator of the region would have been Neovenator a large and basal Carcharodontosaur. Sauropod teeth have been discovered here as well suggesting that this dromaeosaur lived in the shadow of the titanic dinosaurs.

Implications of Discovery

The implications of Vectiraptor are far bigger than one may think. The United Kingdom, as well as most of Europe was actually a series of Islands for many millions of years. The most iconic example would be Hațeg Island in Romania during the late cretaceous. As such, there was a high amount of endemism and biodiversity in the Wessex Formation. Furthermore, despite its fragmentary nature, the paper recently published sheds light onto this dinosaur’s origins. It suggests that dromaeosaurs like Vectiraptor originated in North America and made their way over to Europe and occupied the niche of small predators through a faunal interchange. As to how the animals got to Europe, it’s important to know that both Europe and North America during this period were closer than they are today, and it’s not impossible that there may have been a series of land bridges between the various islands. The paper implies that Greenland could have been a large land bridge between the old and new worlds. It's possible smaller land bridges could have popped up every couple hundred thousand years and allowed faunal interchanges between the continents. Furthermore, it’s even possible that they migrated via floating mats of vegetation, or maybe they managed to island hop via swimming. It’ll likely never be known as to how this dinosaur got to the UK, but the ramifications of Vectiraptor in Wessex help shed light on the origin of dromaeosaurs in both the UK and Europe as a whole.

Extinction:

The extinction of this dinosaur was certainly due to climatic changes. As the various islands shifted around in the Early to Mid-Cretaceous climatic changes ended this dinosaurs’ reign. It wouldn’t be for another 125,000,000 years that its bones would be unearthed in a pyrite matrix and shed light as to what dromaeosaurs were like in Wessex and Europe as a whole.
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Happy New Year's Eve-Eve guys! Thought I'd do my final profile featuring one of my favorite finds of 2021, Vectiraptor.

In order to make this dinosaur, I just took Lgcfm and Ulquiorra's Deinonychus and based the colors on the Bali Mynah. Now I know it's rather basic and given the environment is HIGHLY unlikely, but to be perfectly honest, I really didn't have much time to put it together, as I'm working on the final two members of episode 4 of PMP. PLUS, I just love the coloration of the Bali Mynah having just seen it at my zoo, I just thought it'd look cool.

Will this be in PMP? IF it was named in 2018 or even late 2019 when I was planning out the series, perhaps I'd target the Isle of Wight for episode 4. But now, no. I know that all 3 dinosaur locations in S1 are in North America, but I think when I was putting the series together, it basically morphed into my favorite episodes of WWD/Prehistoric Park and Monsters We Met, with the exception of episode 4. As I only recently saw Monsters Resurrected (which is fucking hilariously inaccurate). I was thinking of targeting either Mid-Jurassic China, to Early Cretaceous Asia, and Early Cretaceous (mainly Cedar Mountain) Utah. However, when I read into the Cloverly Formation more, I ultimately settled on it given I thought of unique scenes and some callbacks to WWD with rescuing and portraying the dinosaurs.
The next season will target a lot more varied dinosaur and mammalian locations. As I'm basically approaching if the paleontological community was more involved.
In other words, if time travel existed and everyone was fine with it, what regions would you target and what species would you bring back for research?

Still, hope you guys enjoy this condensed version of the paper published by Longrich and some details about Vectiraptor and its environment it thrived in.

Original Model and Skin by Ulquiorra and Lgcfm respectively, skin modified by me:
Deinonychus (Lgcfm & Ulquiorra) | ZT2 Download Library Wiki | Fandom

Description
Vectiraptor greeni
The United Kingdom is where dinosaurs were first discovered. For nearly 200 years, countless dinosaurs have been unearthed and described from the first theropod ever found Megalosaurus, to the carnosaur Neovenator, and the basal thyreophoran Scelidosaurus. However, 2021 marked the naming of a unique dinosaur, Vectiraptor greeni.

History of Discovery and Naming:

In 2004, amateur fossil hunters, Mick Green and Nick Chase were prospecting for fossils near Compton Bay. A region part of the Wessex formation, one of the most biodiverse paleontological sites in the UK on the small Isle of Wight. As they prospected into the pyrite rock face, Green found something sticking out of the rock that was flung lose from his digging. A dorsal vertebra, he could tell right away given the hollow structure of the bone that this was a dinosaur. Furthermore, the bone was highly pneumatized (filled with air sacs) meaning this was likely a theropod dinosaur. Green and Chase donated the bones to the Isle of Wight Museum County Collection Service. There the bones would reside for 17 years before further study into this bone would identify what family this animal belonged to. A dromaeosaur, the first ever named from the United Kingdom. In December 2021, paleontologists Dr.Nick Longrich, Dr.David Martill, and Megan Jacobs unveiled the name of this dinosaur, Vectiraptor greeni. The generic name derived from the Latin "Vectis", which is what the Isle of Wight was called, and the specific name after Mick Green. The entire dinosaur's name in Latin literally, “Green’s Isle of Wight Thief”.

For years, it was assumed that at this time, dromaeosaurs existed in United Kingdom. However, the fragmentary preservation of European formations from the Mesozoic has not often led to great results. Prior to this discovery, the best-known dromaeosaur from Europe is Pyroraptor from France which preserved the teeth, arm fragments, vertebra, and the iconic sickle claw. Vectiraptor further fleshes out the ecosystem of Wessex far more as there is now another small carnivore niche filled with raptors as well as other implications in European Dinosaur origins (as will be explained later).

In the 2021 paper, the authors can confirm that this is dinosaur is a dromaeosaur, to be more precise, a true dromaeosaur, Eudromaeosauria. However, its placement within the eudromaeosaur family tree is uncertain. Mainly due to the fragmentary nature of the specimen. The specimen itself consists of 2 dorsal vertebral fragments as well as part of the sacrum.
Despite its fragmentary status, the authors determined that it was a dromaeosaur given that the bones were highly pneumatized given it had very large pleurocoels (hollow regions on dinosaur bones) and had a broader neural spine similar to large-bodied dromaeosaurs. The paper describes that this animal was most similar to the famous Deinonychus from North America.

Description:

Size-wise, it was extremely close to Deinonychus from North America. While not as large as Utahraptor and Dakotaraptor, it is easily the largest dromaeosaur from Europe, around 8-11ft long and weighed approximately 185-200lbs. Aside from similarities from its spinal column and sacrum, it cannot be ascertained as to what other features this animal had (skull shape, claw size, etc.) further fossil finds will be required to further flesh out the animal. The formation of the rocks date this dinosaur to around 125,000,000 years ago during what was the apex of the diversity in the Wessex Formation.

Habitat:

Its habitat in the Wessex Formation resembled an arid to semi-arid environment, like a Mediterranean environment today with scrubland and very little forested regions. Unique in the sphere of paleontology, as a lot of dinosaur-bearing formations this rich are usually a floodplain or volcanic environment which is conducive to preserving fossils more. On the last point, it should be noted that while this region is rich, it’s rather fragmentary in terms of preservation as is seen in Vectiraptor’s case. Nonetheless, it is possible to build a picture of this region. Small dinosaurs such as Hypsilophodon would have been prey for this dinosaur, as well as some mammals, lizards. The famous Iguanodon has been found in the region and babies and maybe even juveniles could have been prey for this dinosaur as well. In competition, Vectiraptor had to compete with animals like Eotyrannus, a basal Tyrannosaur for food, however, the apex predator of the region would have been Neovenator a large and basal Carcharodontosaur. Sauropod teeth have been discovered here as well suggesting that this dromaeosaur lived in the shadow of the titanic dinosaurs.

Implications of Discovery

The implications of Vectiraptor are far bigger than one may think. The United Kingdom, as well as most of Europe was actually a series of Islands for many millions of years. The most iconic example would be Hațeg Island in Romania during the late cretaceous. As such, there was a high amount of endemism and biodiversity in the Wessex Formation. Furthermore, despite its fragmentary nature, the paper recently published sheds light onto this dinosaur’s origins. It suggests that dromaeosaurs like Vectiraptor originated in North America and made their way over to Europe and occupied the niche of small predators through a faunal interchange. As to how the animals got to Europe, it’s important to know that both Europe and North America during this period were closer than they are today, and it’s not impossible that there may have been a series of land bridges between the various islands. The paper implies that Greenland could have been a large land bridge between the old and new worlds. It's possible smaller land bridges could have popped up every couple hundred thousand years and allowed faunal interchanges between the continents. Furthermore, it’s even possible that they migrated via floating mats of vegetation, or maybe they managed to island hop via swimming. It’ll likely never be known as to how this dinosaur got to the UK, but the ramifications of Vectiraptor in Wessex help shed light on the origin of dromaeosaurs in both the UK and Europe as a whole.

Extinction:

The extinction of this dinosaur was certainly due to climatic changes. As the various islands shifted around in the Early to Mid-Cretaceous climatic changes ended this dinosaurs’ reign. It wouldn’t be for another 125,000,000 years that its bones would be unearthed in a pyrite matrix and shed light as to what dromaeosaurs were like in Wessex and Europe as a whole.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Happy New Year's Eve-Eve guys! Thought I'd do my final profile featuring one of my favorite finds of 2021, Vectiraptor.

In order to make this dinosaur, I just took Lgcfm and Ulquiorra's Deinonychus and based the colors on the Bali Mynah. Now I know it's rather basic and given the environment is HIGHLY unlikely, but to be perfectly honest, I really didn't have much time to put it together, as I'm working on the final two members of episode 4 of PMP. PLUS, I just love the coloration of the Bali Mynah having just seen it at my zoo, I just thought it'd look cool.

Will this be in PMP? IF it was named in 2018 or even late 2019 when I was planning out the series, perhaps I'd target the Isle of Wight for episode 4. But now, no. I know that all 3 dinosaur locations in S1 are in North America, but I think when I was putting the series together, it basically morphed into my favorite episodes of WWD/Prehistoric Park and Monsters We Met, with the exception of episode 4. As I only recently saw Monsters Resurrected (which is fucking hilariously inaccurate). I was thinking of targeting either Mid-Jurassic China, to Early Cretaceous Asia, and Early Cretaceous (mainly Cedar Mountain) Utah. However, when I read into the Cloverly Formation more, I ultimately settled on it given I thought of unique scenes and some callbacks to WWD with rescuing and portraying the dinosaurs.
The next season will target a lot more varied dinosaur and mammalian locations. As I'm basically approaching if the paleontological community was more involved.
In other words, if time travel existed and everyone was fine with it, what regions would you target and what species would you bring back for research?

Still, hope you guys enjoy this condensed version of the paper published by Longrich and some details about Vectiraptor and its environment it thrived in.

Original Model and Skin by Ulquiorra and Lgcfm respectively, skin modified by me:
Deinonychus (Lgcfm & Ulquiorra) | ZT2 Download Library Wiki | Fandom