In Britain, a new dinosaur was named after a company manager — Asharq Al-Awsat

In Surrey, UK, a new genus and species of dinosaur was named Paludohadros proudlovii in honour of the late Will Proudlove, who managed the Ewhurst brick and tile company. It was there that the animal’s fossils were found in 2001 and later transferred to London’s Natural History Museum.

As Asharq Al-Awsat reports, Proudlove died at the age of 35 shortly before the remains were discovered. His wife Rachel told BBC Radio Surrey that dinosaur remains had also been found at the company previously. According to her, when another layer of clay was removed at the quarry, Will checked whether there were any fossils in the rock.

A new representative of iguanodonts

The remains belong to iguanodonts, a group of dinosaurs known for spikes on their thumbs. Previously, iguanodonts found in southern England were usually assigned to the genus Iguanodon or its smaller relative Mantellisaurus.

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However, a detailed redescription of Mantellisaurus carried out by scientists at the Natural History Museum in 2023 made it possible to identify key differences. In recent years, this has contributed to the description of several new iguanodonts, including Brighstoneus, Comptonatus, Istiorachis and Paludohadros.

A dinosaur from wetlands

Paludohadros proudlovii was a four-legged herbivorous dinosaur that lived about 125 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous period. Southern England at that time was covered by wetlands, which was reflected in the genus name: the Latin word palus means swamp.

According to the Natural History Museum’s estimate, the animal was about five metres long and weighed between 1.5 and two tonnes. In size, it was roughly comparable to a rhinoceros.