Open Paleo

Brighstoneus

Lockwood et al., 2021 bri-STO-nee-us

Named after Brighstone, a village on the Isle of Wight, England, near where the fossil was found, combined with Latin/Greek -eus suffix. Full meaning: 'one from Brighstone'.

125.8–121.4 million years ago Barremian, Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous stages

Brighstoneus is a genus of hadrosauriform dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight, England. The genus contains a single species, Brighstoneus simmondsi, known from a partial skeleton.

Under dispute

Brighstoneus simmondsi was described as a non-hadrosaurid hadrosauriform, though its describers recovered it outside Hadrosauriformes, as the sister of Ouranosaurus, in their majority-rule tree (Lockwood and colleagues, 2021). Lockwood and colleagues (2024) recovered it as the earliest-diverging hadrosauroid, outside Hadrosauriformes and Iguanodontidae, and Rotatori and colleagues (2026) place it in a clade with Ouranosaurus and Morelladon that is the sister of Hadrosauriformes.

Diagnosis

  1. Maxillary crowns possessing both a primary ridge and mesially placed accessory ridges on the lingual surface (autapomorphy).
  2. Nasal expanded postnarially to produce a modest nasal bulla with convex lateral walls (autapomorphy).
  3. At least 28 dentary alveolar positions — highest recorded in an ornithopod with non-parallel alveolar septa — in combination with one active crown and one replacement tooth per position.

Species

Brighstoneus simmondsi Lockwood et al., 2021

Type species

Named for Keith Simmonds, who assisted in collecting the holotype remains as an amateur paleontologist.

Holotype
MIWG 6344 , Dinosaur Isle Museum
Material
Partial skeleton: dorsal process of right premaxilla; both maxillae; both jugals; left palpebral; left nasal; both dentaries; predentary; dorsal vertebrae; sacrum; six caudal vertebrae; dorsal ribs; both ilia; right ischium; possible prepubic process; right femur.
Horizon
L9 Bed, Wessex Formation, Barremian, Early Cretaceous , 125.8–121.4 million years ago
Locality
Grange Chine, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom

References

  1. Lockwood, J. A. F.; Martill, D. M.; Maidment, S. C. R. (2021). A new hadrosauriform dinosaur from the Wessex Formation, Wealden Group (Early Cretaceous), of the Isle of Wight, southern England. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 19(12): 847-888. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/14772019.2021.1978005

    Named Brighstoneus as a hadrosauriform; its majority-rule tree places it outside Hadrosauriformes, with Ouranosaurus.

    lockwood2021a
  2. Paul, G. S. (2024). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (3rd ed.). Princeton University Press.

    Source of the appearance features.

    paul2024a
  3. Lockwood, J. A. F.; Martill, D. M.; Maidment, S. C. R. (2024). Comptonatus chasei, a new iguanodontian dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight, southern England. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 22(1). Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/14772019.2024.2346573

    Recovered Brighstoneus as the earliest-diverging hadrosauroid, outside Hadrosauriformes and Iguanodontidae.

    lockwood2024a
  4. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Treats Brighstoneus as a basal hadrosauriform.

    jones2026a
  5. Rotatori, F. M.; Chiarenza, A. A.; Fanti, F.; Moreno-Azanza, M. (2026). The early origin of Iguanodontia: new insights into the macroevolution, diversity and biogeography of the clade. Palaeontology 69(2): e70057. doi:10.1111/pala.70057

    Recovered Brighstoneus with Ouranosaurus and Morelladon as the sister of Hadrosauriformes.

    rotatori2026a