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Found in a Surrey brickworks in 2001, and only now given a name

Qurexa Editorial Team27 October 20266 min read 0 0
Found in a Surrey brickworks in 2001, and only now given a name

What happened

On Monday 26 October 2026, scientists announced a new species of dinosaur, found in England. It has been named Paludohadros proudlovii. It is a new genus as well as a new species, which means it does not fit neatly into any group already named. The research was published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. It was led by Ricardo Sacamoto, a PhD student, with Susannah Maidment as senior author. The work involved the Natural History Museum in London, the University of São Paulo and the University of Birmingham. The fossil came out of a working brick and roof tile site in Surrey. The research paper names the site as Smokejacks Brickworks; the museum's account of the dig calls it Ewhurst Works. It was found in 2001 and donated to the Natural History Museum, where it has been ever since. So the bones have been in a museum for 25 years. What happened this week is that somebody finally worked out what they were. The animal was an iguanodontian, a group of plant-eating dinosaurs known for having a spike on the thumb. It lived about 125 million years ago, in the Early Cretaceous. At that time, southern England was muddy wetland. The first part of the name reflects that: palus is Latin for swamp. The second part honours Will Proudlove, a former manager at the site, who died shortly before the fossil was dug out.

Why this matters

There are two interesting things here, and neither is the dinosaur itself. The first is where the discovery actually happened. Not in a remote desert. In a museum drawer, in London, by a PhD student going back through material that had already been collected. The team then went further and re-examined other specimens in the Natural History Museum's collections, including some first collected in the 1950s. They found several more that belong to Paludohadros. They think more new species are probably sitting there too. That is a genuinely useful thing for a young person to understand about science. A lot of discovery is not adventure. It is careful re-reading of things other people have already filed away. The fossils were there for seventy years; the question nobody had asked was what exactly they were. The second interesting thing is a small detail about what else was in the ground. The fossil was found about 100 metres from a Baryonyx, a meat-eating dinosaur usually described as a fish eater. Susannah Maidment pointed out what the Baryonyx had been eating: "While Baryonyx is best known for eating fish, this dinosaur's last meal also included a baby iguanodontian." For Ricardo Sacamoto, naming it was a first. "Paludohadros is the first species I've ever named and I'm honored to have been able to work on it," he said.

What the evidence actually says

The careful bits are worth spelling out, because this is a good example of scientists being honest about uncertainty. The animal was roughly 5 metres long and weighed about 1.5 to 2 tonnes. But its bones were not fully developed. That means it was probably still growing: a juvenile. The researchers think a full-grown adult could have been about twice that size. So the measurements describe this individual, not the species at full size. That is a real limit. On the Baryonyx, the evidence shows a young iguanodontian in its gut contents. It does not show which species that young animal was. And it does not show how it got there. The Baryonyx may have hunted and killed it, or it may have scavenged an animal that was already dead. The researchers say plainly that they cannot tell which. That distinction matters. "Predator ate baby dinosaur" and "predator found a dead baby dinosaur" are different stories, and the fossil does not choose between them. What is solid: the bones are different enough from known iguanodontians to justify a new genus and species, several other museum specimens match it, and the rock it came from dates to about 125 million years ago. What is interpretation: the adult size, and anything about how the animal behaved or died.

Practical advice

If this is the sort of thing that interests you or a child you know, there are real ways in. The Natural History Museum's website publishes its research and its collections, and entry to the museum in London is free. You do not need to pay to see fossils. If you find something that looks like a fossil on a beach or in a quarry spoil heap, photograph it where it lies before you move it. Where it came from is part of the information. Many local museums will identify finds for free, and the Natural History Museum has guidance on reporting significant ones. Do not go fossil hunting in a working quarry or brickworks. Those are industrial sites with heavy machinery and unstable faces. The fossil in this story was recovered with the site's cooperation, not by someone wandering in. On beaches, stay away from the base of cliffs, check tide times, and collect from the loose material rather than hammering at the rock face. If you are a student thinking about this as a career, note that the person who named this species is a PhD student, and the material he worked on was already collected. Geology, biology and patience matter more than travel. Local geology groups and the Geologists' Association run field trips for beginners, often for very little money.

What to know

A new plant-eating dinosaur, Paludohadros proudlovii, was named on 26 October 2026 in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, from a fossil dug out of a Surrey brick and tile works in 2001. It lived about 125 million years ago, when southern England was wetland. This individual was around 5 metres long and 1.5 to 2 tonnes, but was still growing; an adult may have been about twice the size. It was found about 100 metres from a Baryonyx whose gut contents included a young iguanodontian, though researchers cannot say whether that animal was hunted or scavenged. The discovery came from re-examining museum material rather than new fieldwork, and the team found several more specimens of the same species in collections dating back to the 1950s. They expect more new species are waiting there. The species name honours Will Proudlove, a former manager at the site, who died shortly before the fossil was excavated. His daughter Rachael Proudlove said: "Sadly, this dinosaur was only discovered the year after he died, but its story has become a part of our lives since then." Sources: Phys.org, "Fossils from brickworks reveal new dinosaur species that roamed England's wetlands 125 million years ago", 26 October 2026, https://phys.org/news/2026-10-fossils-brickworks-reveal-dinosaur-species.html — Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, "A new iguanodontian dinosaur from the Weald Clay Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of Smokejacks Brickworks, southern England", 2026, https://doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2026.2726221 — Natural History Museum, https://www.nhm.ac.uk/ This article is for general information. If you plan to go fossil hunting, follow the Fossil Collecting Code for the area and take care near cliffs, quarries and tides.

#palaeontology#Natural History Museum#dinosaurs#Surrey#research#fossils

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