A partial dinosaur skeleton unearthed in a Surrey brickworks in 2001 has been identified as a previously unknown genus and species of an early-diverging hadrosauroid iguanodontian.
Life reconstruction of the iguanodontian dinosaur Paludohadros proudlovii; in the distance, the large predatory dinosaur Baryonyx walkeri can be seen. Image credit: Guilherme Gehr.
The new species, Paludohadros proudlovii, belonged to the iguanodontians, a group of plant-eating dinosaurs known for the spikes on their thumbs.
The animal lived in the swampy lowlands of what is now Surrey, southern England, during the Early Cretaceous, around 125 million years ago.
It is the first iguanodontian dinosaur to be formally named from the Weald Clay Formation of Smokejacks Brickworks, the geological layer where it was found.
“Iguanodontia was one of the first dinosaur groups to be named and is one of the most diverse and widespread ornithischian clades, with fossils known from the Middle Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous,” said lead author Ricardo Sacamoto, a Ph.D. student at the Natural History Museum, London and the University of São Paulo, and his colleagues.
“It includes the first named ornithischian genus, Iguanodon, and was defined in 2021 as the smallest clade containing Dryosaurus altus, Iguanodon bernissartensis, Rhabdodon priscus, and Tenontosaurus tilletti.”
“The clade’s diversity was relatively low during the Jurassic, although recent descriptions and reinterpretations suggest a greater diversity than previously thought.”
The Paludohadros proudlovii individual, about 5 m (16 feet) long and weighing an estimated 1.5 to 2 tons, was about the size of a rhinoceros.
Its bones had not fully matured, so it was probably a juvenile that could have grown to twice that size.
“Paludohadros proudlovii is the first species I’ve ever named and I’m honored to have been able to work on it,” Sacamoto said.
“I still remember the incredible moment when I realized that this was a new species that no one had ever identified before.”
“Paludohadros proudlovii was found just 100 m (328 feet) away from Baryonyx, whose fossils we also look after at the Natural History Museum, London,” said senior author Professor Susannah Maidment, a paleontologist at the Natural History Museum, London and the University of Birmingham.
“While Baryonyx is best known for eating fish, this dinosaur’s last meal also included a baby iguanodontian.”
“We can’t tell for certain which species this came from, so it’s possible that Baryonyx could have been scavenging on the remains of young Paludohadros proudlovii or even hunting them when it had the opportunity.”
A paper describing the discovery was published today in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.
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Ricardo J. Sacamoto et al. 2026. A new iguanodontian dinosaur from the Weald Clay Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of Smokejacks Brickworks, southern England. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 24 (2); doi: 10.1080/14772019.2026.2726221
