Part of an important rare dinosaur has been found on the Isle of Wight by a Newport woman.

Clare Leonty, a well-known dinosaur hunter, who has found this spine of a polacanthus, told the Isle of Wight County Press it was one of the best finds she has made.

Clare found it on a South Wight beach last week and said she was sure it was part of a tail spike from the spine of the polacanthus.

Now an expert from the Natural History Museum is expressing interest in the Isle of Wight find, Clare said.

Isle of Wight County Press: The iguanodon tibia Clare previously found and (inset) one of her jewellery pieces.The iguanodon tibia Clare previously found and (inset) one of her jewellery pieces. (Image: Clare Leonty.)

The polacanthus was an armoured plant-eating ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Cretaceous period.

 It lived 130 to 125 million years ago 

Polacanthus foxii was named after a find on the Isle of Wight in 1865.

Fossil finds of the species are said to be few and far between and some important features, such as its skull, are not widely known about.

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Clare said: “I have been dinosaur hunting for 45 years and this is one of my best finds, along with an iguanodon tibia the Isle of Wight County Press reported on years ago.

“I have never found this species before.

“I will be looking for more from the same animal.

“It’s very rare. My friend Kai has a few of the spines he displays at his dinosaur farm.”

Clare is well known on the Isle of Wight for her art works and makes jewellery and other items with a dinosaur theme including a cross made from a fossil she wears herself.

Around the same time as Clare’s find, her friend Maria Yule and her son Luke Ferguson separately discovered two halves of what they believe to be an iguanodon jaw in a similar location.

Dr Martyn Munt, curator of Dinosaur Isle museum at Sandown, said he would love to see the find to be able to verify it.