The Isle of Wight has had a close relationship with vertebrate palaeontologists over the last 200 years, especially those interested in dinosaurs. During the 19th century it was visited regularly by pioneers like Gideon Mantell and William Buckland, and provided many of the fossils that launched the new science, including an iguanodontian sacrum that allowed Owen to ‘invent’ the Dinosauria. The exposed Early Cretaceous strata represent a fluviolacustrine ecosystem spanning the latest Hauterivian into the early Aptian and contain probably Europe’s richest source of dinosaur material. During much of the 19th century interest in the island’s dinosaurs waned as the view prevailed that most of the taxa, particularly of the ornithischians were known. However, since 2020 there has been an astonishing increase in the diversity of dinosaurs from the Wealden Group exposures of the Isle of Wight with more expected this year. Other work on macro and microvertebrate fossils make the Wessex Formation one of the world’s most taxonomically diverse, non-marine, Early Cretaceous vertebrate assemblages. This talk presents an overview of a nearly 200 year long history of the island and its dinosaurs and discusses the palaeobiological implications of recent discoveries.
Brief biography of Jeremy Lockwood
Jeremy Lockwood (67 years old), the son of a Belgian Mother and English father, is a vertebrate palaeontologist currently based in the Isle of Wight, southern UK. He had just handed in his Ph.D. thesis with the University of Portsmouth and the Natural History Museum in London on the diversity of iguanodontian dinosaurs from the Cretecous deposits of the Isle of Wight. Jeremy moved to the Isle of Wight ten years ago after taking early retirement from a career in medicine, with degrees from the Universities of Liverpool and Birmingham. He worked as a general practitioner, a deanery programme director teaching junior doctors and as a civilian medical officer to the Army. Jeremy has spent 15 years as the chair of the Friends of Dinosaur Isle Museum, a charity in Sandown, Isle of Wight, which he founded and also campaigned for the collection to remain in an accredited museum. In his career, Jeremy was involved in the discovery and description of a wonderful collection of fossil trackways and skeletons, including the new iguanodontid Brighstoneus simmondsi and the spinosaurids Ceratosuchops inferodios and Riparovenator milnerae.
Interested in hearing more? Then register here for the lecture on March 20th.