| Dracoraptor Temporal range: Early Jurassic,
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|---|---|
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| Skeletal reconstruction, with present bones in green, external moulds in orange, and provisionally identified bones in blue | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Superfamily: | †Coelophysoidea |
| Genus: | †Dracoraptor Martill et al., 2016 |
| Type species | |
| †Dracoraptor hanigani Martill et al., 2016
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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 201.3 ± 0.2 million years old.[1][2]
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 the oldest known Jurassic dinosaur and is the first dinosaur skeleton from the Jurassic of Wales.[1]
- ^ a b Martill, David (2016). "The Oldest Jurassic Dinosaur: A Basal Neotheropod from the Hettangian of Great Britain". PLOS ONE. 11 (1): e0145713. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0145713. PMC 4720452. PMID 26789843.
- ^ Hillebrandt; A.v; Krystyn; L; Kürschner; W.M; Bonis; N.R; Ruhl; M; Richoz (2013-09-01). "The Global Stratotype Sections and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Jurassic System at Kuhjoch (Karwendel Mountains, Northern Calcareous Alps, Tyrol, Austria)". Episodes Journal of International Geoscience. 36 (3): 162–198. doi:10.18814/epiiugs/2013/v36i3/001.