Dracoraptor
| Dracoraptor Temporal range: Early Jurassic,
| |
|---|---|
| Skeletal reconstruction, with present bones in green, external moulds in orange, and provisionally identified bones in blue | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Superfamily: | †Coelophysoidea |
| Genus: | †Dracoraptor Martill et al., 2016 |
| Type species | |
| †Dracoraptor hanigani Martill et al., 2016
| |
Dracoraptor (meaning "dragon thief") 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.