Striking ‘sail-backed’ dinosaur species unearthed in groundbreaking study

Researchers have recently discovered a new species of dinosaur with a striking sail along its back which has been used to attract potential mates.

The fossils of an iguanodontian dinosaur were found on the isle of Wight and identified by Dr Jeremy Lockwood, a PhD student at the University of Portsmouth.

The species, Istiorachis macaruthurae, was named after Ellen MacArthur, who was known for setting a world record for the fastest solo non-stop sailing voyage around the world in 2005.

Before the groundbreaking study of Lockwood, it was considered that the fossils belonged to one of the two known dinosaur species from Isle of Wight, dating back to 125 million years.

But Lockwood’ analysis negated the widely held hypothesis and proved that the fossil was unique.

Lockwood said, “While the skeleton wasn’t as complete as some of the others that have been found, no one had really taken a close look at these bones before … unlike the others, this one had particularly long neural spines, which was very unusual.”

Among all his findings, the most distinguished one was the presence of a sail-like structure along its back.

According to researchers, evolution sometimes prefers flash over function. Although the exact function of eye-catching structure is a debatable topic, it was most likely used for visual signalling to attract a mate.

“In modern reptiles, sail structures often show up more prominently in males, suggesting that these attributes evolved to impress mates or intimidate rivals. We think Istiorachis may have been doing much the same,” researchers added.