Round world sailor Dame Ellen MacArthur has said it is a “huge honour” to have a new species of dinosaur named after her.
MacArthur became the fastest person to sail non-stop around the world when she completed a solo circumnavigation in 2005.
As BBC News reports, the dinosaur unearthed some time ago on the Isle of Wight by fossil hunter Nick Chase has been given the name Istiorachis macarthurae.
The first word in Latin translates as "sail spine" and the second refers to Dame Ellen's surname.
"The fact that the Istiorachis 'sail' could be likened to the sails I have spent so much of my life below was very touching,” she has said.
Scientist Jeremy Lockwood had been re-examining the 125 million-year-old specimen, on display at Dinosaur Isle Museum in Sandown, and believed to be an iguanadon.
However, he noticed that it had a particularly long neural spine, suggesting the ‘sail’ on it back had evolved into something that could be used for display purposes – rather like peacock feathers.
Read the BBC News here
