January 24, 2016

Outline of Dracoraptor haniganis skeleton with the bones found in green (Image David M. Martill, Steven U. Vidovic, Cindy Howells, John R. Nudds)

An article published in the journal “PLOS ONE” describes the analysis of the partial skeleton of a new species of dinosaur found on a beach near Cardiff, Wales. The fossils date back about 200 million years ago, at the beginning of the Jurassic period. This makes them even more interesting because just a few dinosaur fossils from that period were found so far. According to Dr. David Martill from the University of Portsmouth and his colleagues, the dinosaur found belongs to a genus previously unknown and was named Dracoraptor hanigani.