Terrestrial reptile remains are rare in Early Jurassic deposits from the UK but include important records of early dinosaurs and pterosaurs. Here we report an isolated limb bone from the Charmouth Mudstone Formation (upper Sinemurian) of Charmouth, Dorset that was previously misidentified as a referred specimen of the pterosaur Dimorphodon macronyx. Comparisons with other Early Jurassic tetrapods indicate that this element is the fibula of a neotheropod dinosaur, representing one of only a handful of theropod remains from the Lias Group. Although the material is limited the fibula is distinct from other penecontemporaneous European theropods and might represent a new – though currently undiagnosable – taxon. This, alongside other isolated discoveries, indicates that there might have been a higher diversity of theropod taxa in the Early Jurassic of Europe than is generally appreciated.

在英国的侏罗纪早期沉积物中，陆生爬行动物的遗骸很少见，但包括早期恐龙和翼龙的重要记录。在这里，我们报告了多塞特郡查茅斯的查茅斯泥岩组（上Sinemurian）的一个孤立的四肢骨，该假肢先前被误认为是翼龙Dimorphodon macronyx的标本。。与其他早期侏罗纪四足动物的比较表明，该元素是新兽脚亚目恐龙的腓骨，代表了利亚斯群中仅有的少数兽脚亚目之一。尽管材料有限，但腓骨不同于其他近代欧洲兽脚类兽脚类，可能代表了一种新的（尽管目前无法诊断）分类单元。这与其他孤立发现一起表明，在欧洲侏罗纪早期，兽脚类生物分类的多样性可能比人们普遍认为的要高。