Genus
Valid Extinct

Dracoraptor

Martill et al. 2016

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.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
1
Group
Dinosaures
Carnivore Ground dwelling, solitary Terrestrial
Dracoraptor
click to enlarge
Skeleton outline of Dracoraptor hanigani. Bones highlighted green for present, orange for external moulds and blue for tentatively identified bones. Many unidentified or uncertain elements have been omitted. © David M. Martill, Steven U. Vidovic, Cindy Howells, John R. Nudds · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia
PBDB Wikipedia
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
Theropoda Unranked clade
Neotheropoda Unranked clade
Coelophysoidea Superfamily
Dracoraptor Genus
Fossil sites 1 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
1
Geological formations
Blue Lias
1
Temporal distribution
Hettangian (201.4–199.5 Ma)
1
Species (1)
Dracoraptor hanigani 201 Ma
Images 1
Bibliography
Original description
D. M. Martill, S. U. Vidovic, and C. Howells, J. R. Nudds. 2016. The oldest Jurassic dinosaur: a basal neotheropod from the Hettangian of Great Britain. PLoS ONE 11(1):e0145713:1-38 DOI ↗
Bibliography (1)
D. M. Martill, S. U. Vidovic, and C. Howells, J. R. Nudds. 2016. The oldest Jurassic dinosaur: a basal neotheropod from the Hettangian of Great Britain. PLoS ONE 11(1):e0145713:1-38 DOI ↗