中文导读

一块 2001 年在英格兰萨里郡砖瓦厂出土的恐龙化石，等了 25 年多才有了正式名字。伦敦自然历史博物馆 10 月 27 日宣布，这是一个新属新种的禽龙类恐龙，命名为 Paludohadros proudlovii：属名意为“沼泽中的”，种名则纪念砖瓦厂厂长威尔·普劳德洛夫——他生前热衷于留意采石场里的化石，却在恐龙被发现的前一年去世，年仅 35 岁。文章先讲名字背后的人，再解释化石为何迟迟未被命名（2023 年对曼特尔龙的重新描述让科学家看清了差异），接着介绍这只恐龙的体形、生活环境以及它与肉食性重爪龙的可能关系，最后落在博物馆旧藏中可能还有更多新物种上。阅读时可留意文章如何按“事件—背景—意义”展开，以及 may、might、probably 等词如何区分确定事实与推测。

正文

A dinosaur that lived about 125 million years ago has been given a name, and part of that name belongs to a man who never saw it. The new species, Paludohadros proudlovii, was announced by London’s Natural History Museum on 27 October. Its second name honours Will Proudlove, who managed the brick and roof tile works in Surrey, southern England, where the bones were found.

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一只生活在约 1.25 亿年前的恐龙终于有了名字，而名字的一部分属于一位从未见过它的人。这个新物种名为 Paludohadros proudlovii，由伦敦自然历史博物馆于 10 月 27 日公布。它的第二个名字（种名）是为了纪念威尔·普劳德洛夫（Will Proudlove）——他曾管理英格兰南部萨里郡的一家砖瓦厂，恐龙骨骼正是在那里被发现的。

Proudlove had worked his way up at the Ewhurst works until he became manager. According to his family, he was interested in dinosaur fossils. Each time a layer of clay was removed from the quarry, he would check whether anything had come to light. Sadly, he died in 2000 at the age of just 35, and the dinosaur was found the following year. His wife says the name is a “great legacy” and that the family are “absolutely thrilled“.

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普劳德洛夫在埃赫斯特（Ewhurst）砖瓦厂一步步晋升，最终成为厂长。据家人说，他对恐龙化石很感兴趣。每当采石场挖掉一层黏土，他都会查看是否有什么东西露了出来。不幸的是，他于 2000 年去世，年仅 35 岁，而这只恐龙在第二年被发现。他的妻子说，这个名字是一份“很好的纪念”，全家人“非常激动”。

The bones were dug up in 2001 and given to the museum, but they waited more than 25 years for a name. One reason is that, for a long time, scientists placed most dinosaurs of this type from southern England into just two groups: Iguanodon and its smaller relative Mantellisaurus. In 2023, museum researchers described Mantellisaurus again in detail. This helped them see differences they had missed before, and several new species have been named since then.

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这些骨骼于 2001 年被挖掘出来并交给博物馆，但它们等了 25 年多才获得名字。原因之一是，长期以来，科学家把英格兰南部这一类恐龙大多归入两个类别：禽龙和它体形较小的近亲曼特尔龙。2023 年，博物馆研究人员重新详细描述了曼特尔龙。这帮助他们发现了此前忽略的差异，此后又有好几个新物种得到命名。

Paludohadros was a plant-eating dinosaur that walked on four legs and, like its relatives, had spikes on its thumbs. At that time, southern England was covered in muddy wetlands, which gave the animal its first name: “palus” means “swamp“ in Latin. The dinosaur was about five metres long and weighed 1.5 to two tonnes, similar to a rhino. However, its bones were not fully developed, so it was probably young and might have grown twice as large.

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Paludohadros 是一种用四条腿行走的植食性恐龙，和它的近亲一样，拇指上长有尖刺。当时，英格兰南部遍布泥泞的湿地，这也给了它第一个名字（属名）：拉丁语中“palus”意为“沼泽”。这只恐龙体长约五米，体重 1.5 至 2 吨，与一头犀牛相当。不过，它的骨骼尚未完全发育，因此它很可能还是一只幼年个体，成年后体形或许能达到两倍大。

The fossil was found only 100 metres from where Baryonyx, a famous meat-eating dinosaur, was discovered in 1983. Baryonyx is best known for eating fish, but the remains of its last meal also included a baby dinosaur from the same group. Scientists cannot say which species it was, so Baryonyx may have hunted young Paludohadros or fed on their bodies.

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这块化石的发现地距离重爪龙（Baryonyx）的发现地只有 100 米。重爪龙是一种著名的肉食性恐龙，于 1983 年被发现。它最出名的是吃鱼，但它最后一餐的残留物中还包括一只同类群的幼年恐龙。科学家无法确定那是哪个物种，所以重爪龙可能捕猎过幼年的 Paludohadros，也可能只是吃了它们的尸体。

The study was led by Ricardo Sacamoto, a PhD student, and published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. It is the first species he has named. Museum scientists have already found more Paludohadros bones among fossils collected in the 1950s, and Sacamoto now plans to go through the museum’s collection. More new species may still be waiting there.

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这项研究由博士生里卡多·萨卡莫托（Ricardo Sacamoto）主导，发表在《系统古生物学杂志》上。这是他命名的第一个物种。博物馆科学家已在 20 世纪 50 年代采集的化石中找到了更多 Paludohadros 的骨骼，萨卡莫托现在计划逐一查看博物馆的藏品。或许还有更多新物种在那里等待被发现。

新闻来源

• Natural History Museum · New UK dinosaur discovered using Natural History Museum’s fossil collections named after devoted dad and husband (27 Oct 2026)
• BBC News · Newly discovered dinosaur named after Surrey dad (27 Oct 2026)

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