| Comptonatus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Speculativelife reconstruction | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | †Ornithischia |
| Clade: | †Ornithopoda |
| Genus: | †Comptonatus Lockwood, Martill &Maidment,2024 |
| Species: | †C. chasei |
| Binomial name | |
| †Comptonatus chasei Lockwood, Martill & Maidment, 2024 | |
Comptonatus (meaning "theCompton thunderer") is agenus ofornithopod dinosaur from the earlyCretaceous period. Its remains are known from theWessex Formation in England. The type and only species isC. chasei.
The holotype specimen,IWCMS 2014.80, was excavated in September–October 2013, close to where aValdosaurus specimen was recovered the previous year. It is the most complete ornithopod dinosaur found on theIsle of Wight sinceMantellisaurus in 1914.[1][2]
Comptonatus was described as a new genus and species of iguanodontian dinosaur in 2024. Thegeneric name,Comptonatus, combines the name of the locationCompton with the Latintonatus, meaning "thundered", and has the intended meaning of "the Compton thunderer", in reference to its discovery location and large size. Thespecific name,chasei, honours the late Nick Chase, who won thePalaeontological Association'sMary Anning Award in 2018 and discovered the specimen.[1][3]
Comptonatus was entered into aphylogenetic analysis using the dataset of the description of the contemporaryBrighstoneus. It was found to be in a clade withIguanodon,Barilium, andMantellisaurus, all from southern England, which has been termed the Iguanodontidae.[4] Thecladogram from the analysis is shown below:[1]
Using a novel phylogenetic matrix for their description of the Portuguese hadrosauroidCariocecus bocagei, Bertozzo et al. (2025) recovered this taxon as thesister taxon to a clade formed byComptonatus andBrighstoneus. These taxa were placed within theHadrosauroidea, diverging after the Iguanodontidae.[5] A study by Huang and colleagues (2026) using an updated version of this matrix recovered a comparable clade.[6] The results of the former study are displayed in the cladogram below:
| Hadrosauriformes |
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Comptonatus is one of several iguanodontians known from the Isle of Wight, distinct fromIguanodon,Brighstoneus, andMantellisaurus. The deposition of the Wessex Formation likely spans several million years, and so it is unlikely to have been contemporaneous with all of these other taxa. The Wessex Formation had a warm and semi-aridMediterranean climate, formed onalluvial meander plains. Forests on higher ground north of the floodplain consisted ofPinophyta,Ginkgophyta,Pteridophyta,Cycadophyta.Forest fires andfloods were common occurrences, resulting in the formation of plant debris beds.[4]
