A University of Portsmouth, UK, palaeontologist says he’s discovered 48 new species of prehistoric creature, including 8 dinosaurs, in just four years, which must be some sort of record.

The Portsmouth press release says Steve Sweetman’s discoveries all date back around 130 million years ago, to the Early Cretaceous period. His method? First, work on the dinosaur-rich Isle of Wight; second, rather than looking for bits of bone sticking out of the ground, cart around three and a half tonnes of mud, in buckets, to your lab and sift through it there.

The story was covered in the Daily Mail and The Telegraph, but neither bothered to find out any more about it – probably because (according to Portsmouth’s earth and environmental sciences department) Sweetman is currently on the Isle of Wight, no doubt looking to break the big five-oh before Darwin’s birthday.

Sweetman has presented his research at various conferences, but only published on one of the new species so far, in Palaeontology – a second publication is in press. ‘He has already discovered 48 species and he hasn’t even started on the fish,’ enthuses fellow Portsmouth palaeontologist Dave Martill.

Image: Sweetman in prehistoric-species-gathering action/University of Portsmouth