Welsh Dinosaur Remnants Point At Earliest Jurassic Species

Two fossil-hunting brothers in the Wales – Rob and Nick Hanigan have provided a major leap in study of the Mesozoic Era, the age of dinosaurs, by finding the remnants of a species that is now believed to be a neotheropod, at Penarth in South Wales.


The brothers found the bones in 2014, and reached out to palaeontologists at University of Portsmouth, who studied the “jumbled mix of bones”. The animal has now been christened ‘Dracoraptor Hanigani’, a reference to the Welsh dragon and the surname of the duo.

This discovery is important as it talks about a span of time in history that remains untapped. Steven Vidovic of University of Portsmouth points out that the fossil record for this period pf transition is poor and such a discovery has filled in the gaps of knowledge pertaining to the same.

Dinosaurs lived in three ages: Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous; each one of them characterised by the dominance of a particular race of reptiles (the Jurassic belonged to dinosaurs, for example) and geological strata (chalk, limestone, etc.). The Triassic-Jurassic extinction event marked the end of the Triassic period and the advent of the Jurassic, it unfolded some 201.3 million years ago, wiping off all non-dinosaurian archosaurs and a majority of the marine genera. As is believed, the extinction event caused by the massive asteroid attacks, or volcanism, or both; turned out to be a blessing in disguise for dinosaurs. It allowed them to diversify, expand and fill in the geographical and ecological vacuum created by the extinction of their rivals.

Thus, the Dracoraptor is one of the first members of the Jurassic era, and was followed by well-known species such as the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

After extensive bone analysis, with bones from all over the body, the snout, teeth, neck, limbs, and pelvis that summed up to almost 40% of the body, a well-formed beast emerged. Dracoraptor stands 70cm tall and 2m long from tail to tip. Its meat eating capabilities were facilitated be sharped front teeth and others shaped like serrated steak knives.

The Hanigan brothers have donated the dinosaur to Amgueddfa Cymru- National Museum of Wales, and the skeleton is now on display there.

Take a look: Welsh dinosaur bones confirmed as new Jurassic species | Dinosaurs | The Guardian