Irena Raselli | 08.10.2021
Reconstruction of the small theropod, Pendraig milnerae. Paleoart by James Robbins
Genus: Pendraig = 'chief dragon'
Spescies: milnerae, in honor of the paleontologist Dr Angela C. Milner (1947–2021).
The oldest known theropod from the UK
Pendraig milnerae was a small theropod from the family of Coelophysoidea who lived during the Late Triassic, about 200 million years ago, in South Wales. This makes that small dragon the oldest theropod of the UK known to this date. Currently, its fossilized bones are hosted in the collection of the Natural History Museum in London. The finds consist of a pelvis, the left femur and a vertebra from the back (see figure below). There were enough characters found on this fossil that could be clearly distinguished from know dinosaurs, thus a new species was now erected. But the examination of this specimen doesn't stop there...
Was it a 'dino - dwarf' ?
Although most dinosaurs were rather small at the beginning of their era, the Mesozoic, the size of Pendraig milnerae is striking. Other taxa found in this locality also show a rather small body size. Like for example Terrestrisuchus gracilis, a far ancestor of crocodiles. Since it is know that during the Late Triassic, the environment of where today is south Wales was dominated by a system of islands, paleontologists assume that this might be a case of so called 'insular dwarfism'. Insular dwarfism is an evolutionary process during which the body size of certain taxa decreases over several generations, as a consequence of them living on an island where they have no other predators. It is not fully resolved yet whether the small body size of Pendraig milnerae is actually due to the effect of insular dwarfism. To further explore this hypothesis more material is required and thus subject of future studies. We may therefore certainly expect to hear about Pendraig milnerae again, any time soon.
Figures from the article: left: the pelvic girdle; center: left femur; right: dorsal vertebra. Scale bar in mm.
Original title of the paper: "Pendraig milnerae, a new small-sized coelophysoid theropod from the Late Triassic of Wales"
Authors : Stephan N. F. Spiekman, Martín D. Ezcurra, Richard J. Butler, Nicholas C. Fraser and Susannah C. R. Maidment
Publication date : 6. october 2021 Journal: Royal Society Open Science
Link to the article: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.210915#d1e3343