Open Paleo

Dracoraptor

Martill et al., 2016 DRAH-ko-RAP-tuh

From Latin draco (dragon, referencing the Welsh dragon) + raptor (robber/thief): 'dragon thief' or 'dragon robber', honoring Wales where it was found.

205.7–199.5 million years ago Rhaetian–Hettangian, Late Triassic–Early Jurassic
Late Triassic and Early Jurassic stages

Dracoraptor is a genus of coelophysoid dinosaur that lived during the Hettangian stage of the Early Jurassic Period of what is now Wales dated at about 201 million years ago. The fossil was first discovered in 2014 by Rob and Nick Hanigan and Sam Davies at the Blue Lias Formation on the South Wales coast. The genus name Dracoraptor is from Draco, referring to the Welsh dragon, and raptor, meaning robber, a commonly employed suffix for theropod dinosaurs, with the type species being Dracoraptor hanigani. It is one of the oldest known Jurassic dinosaurs and is the first dinosaur skeleton from the Jurassic of Wales.

Under dispute

Dracoraptor hanigani is placed as the basalmost coelophysoid by some analyses (Martill and colleagues, 2016; Ezcurra and colleagues, 2020) but just outside Coelophysoidea among stem-averostran neotheropods by Spiekman and colleagues (2021).

Diagnosis

  1. Three teeth in the premaxilla
  2. Slender maxillary process of the jugal
  3. Large narial opening with slender subnarial bar
  4. Anteriorly directed pubis considerably longer than ischium
  5. Large dorsal process on distal tarsal IV

Species

Dracoraptor hanigani Martill et al., 2016

Type species

Named for Nick and Rob Hanigan, the brothers who discovered the holotype fossils on the South Wales coast in 2014.

Holotype
NMW 2015.5G.1, NMW 2015.5G.2, NMW 2015.5G.3, NMW 2015.5G.4, NMW 2015.5G.5, NMW 2015.5G.6, NMW 2015.5G.7, NMW 2015.5G.8, NMW 2015.5G.9, NMW 2015.5G.10, NMW 2015.5G.11 , National Museum Wales
Material
Disarticulated partial skeleton: skull elements (both premaxillae, maxillae, teeth, lacrimal, jugal, postorbital, squamosal, lower jaw fragments, possible hyoid), two cervical vertebrae, lumbar and caudal vertebrae, distal forelimb, ischium, pubis, femur, fragmentary tibia, proximal fibula, cervical and thoracic ribs, unidentified fragments.
Horizon
Bull Cliff Member, Blue Lias Formation, Rhaetian–Hettangian, Late Triassic–Early Jurassic , 205.7–199.5 million years ago
Locality
Lavernock Point, Vale of Glamorgan, United Kingdom

References

  1. Martill, D. M.; Vidovic, S. U.; Howells, C.; Nudds, J. R. (2016). The Oldest Jurassic Dinosaur: A Basal Neotheropod from the Hettangian of Great Britain. PLOS ONE 11(1): e0145713. Public Library of Science (PLoS). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0145713 martill2016a
  2. Paul, G. S. (2024). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (3rd ed.). Princeton University Press.

    Source of the mass estimate.

    paul2024a
  3. Ezcurra, M. D.; Butler, R. J.; Maidment, S. C. R.; Sansom, I. J.; Meade, L. E.; Radley, J. D. (2020). A revision of the early neotheropod genus Sarcosaurus from the Early Jurassic (Hettangian-Sinemurian) of central England. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 191: 113-149. Oxford University Press (OUP). doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa054

    Neotheropod revision recovered Dracoraptor as the basalmost coelophysoid.

    ezcurra2020a
  4. Spiekman, S. N. F.; Ezcurra, M. D.; Butler, R. J.; Fraser, N. C.; Maidment, S. C. R. (2021). Pendraig milnerae, a new small-sized coelophysoid theropod from the Late Triassic of Wales. Royal Society Open Science 8(10). The Royal Society. doi:10.1098/rsos.210915

    New coelophysoid description's phylogeny placed Dracoraptor outside Coelophysoidea among stem-averostrans.

    spiekman2021a
  5. Simms, M. J. (2004). The Mendip and South Wales massifs. British Lower Jurassic Stratigraphy 30: 111-156. Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough.

    Places the first Psiloceras planorbis at Lavernock about 1.4 m above the top of the Bull Cliff Member, and the beds below it in the Triassic.

    simms2004d