Episode 162 is all about Dracoraptor, a theropod whose name means “dragon thief.”

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In this episode, we discuss:

The best of 2017:

• Best fossil discovery: Borealopelta (from “Puertasaurus: Episode 130”)
  • Runner up: Zuul (from “Puertasaurus: Episode 130”)
  • Runner up: Patagotitan (from “Alxasaurus: Episode 142”)
• Most surprising new dinosaur: Halzkaraptor (from “Scutellosaurus: Episode 160”)
• Best listener question: Did any dinosaurs hop like kangaroos? (from “Miragaia: Episode 116” and “Mamenchisaurus: Episode 117”)
• Most controversial paper: Ornithoscelida (from “Lourinhanosaurus: Episode 122”)
  • Runner up: Scaly T. rex (from “Majungasaurus: Episode 124”)
• Best random thought: Sauropods crushing and eating turtles (from “Siats: Episode 135”)
• Best dinosaur food study: “The Biomechanics Behind Extreme Osteophagy in Tyrannosaurus rex” (from “Acanthopholis: Episode 132”)
  • Runner up: “Consumption of crustaceans by megaherbivorous dinosaurs: dietary flexibility and dinosaur life history strategies” (from “Rebbachisaurus: Episode 149” and “Antetonitrus: Episode 150”)
• Most unlikely dinosaur predator: Giant frogs (from “Rebbachisaurus: Episode 149”)
  • Honorable mention: Azhdarchid Haztegopteryx (from “Aucasaurus: Episode 113”)
• Best amber dinosaur find: Wing, leg, and foot (from “Siats: Episode 135”)
• Best paleopathology study: “Multiple paleopathologies in the dinosaur Bonitasaura salgadoi (Sauropoda: Titanosauria) from the Upper Cretaceous of Patagonia, Argentina” (from “Liliensternus: Episode 140”)
• Best new track site: top of Mount Pelmo (from “Amargasaurus: Episode 157”)
• Best extinction paper(s): About the KT extinction (from “Amargasaurus: Episode 157”)
• Best dinosaur class: Dinosaur Ecosystems (from “Miragaia: Episode 116”)
• Best new website: Paleobiology Database navigator by University of Wisconsin at Madison (from “Chasmosaurus: Episode 119”)
• Best book (fiction): Dragon Teeth (from “Jobaria: Episode 136”)
• Best book (non-fiction): The Sauropod Dinosaurs: Life in the Age of Giants (from “Apatosaurus: Episode 161”)
• Best board game: Bone Wars (from “Lusotitan: Episode 146”)
  • Honorable mention: Go Extinct! (from “Majungasaurus: Episode 124”)
• Best video game: Island 359 (from “Antarctopelta: Episode 138”)
  • Honorable mention: Saurian (from “Alxasaurus: Episode 142”)
• Best movie release: The Lost World (from “Lesothosaurus: Episode 133”)
• Best video (live action): “Toddler girl freaks out from a dinosaur balloon chase” (from “Protoceratops: Episode 154”)
• Best video (animated): Robot Chicken clips (from “Alxasaurus: Episode 142”)

The dinosaur of the day: Dracoraptor

• • Neotheropod that lived in the Early Jurassic in what is now Wales
  • Name means “dragon thief”
  • Welsh flag has a red dragon
  • Found in 2014 and 2015 by brothers and amateur paleontologists Nick and Rob Hanigan, near Penarth in Wales. They were look for ichthyosaurs and found boulders, with dinosaur bones sticking out of them, that had fallen from a cliff face
  • Described in 2016 by David Martill, Steven Vidovic, Cindy Howells, and John Nudds
  • Nick and Rob suggested the genus name
  • Type species is Dracoraptor hanigani
  • The species name is in honor of the Hanigan brothers
  • Found in the Blue Lias Formation (right between a layer with a Jurassic ammonite and a layer that represents the Triassic-Jurassic boundary)
  • Skull is about two-thirds complete, but was disarticulated
  • Juvenile specimen found, and was 7 ft (2.1 m) long
  • Adults could have grown up to 10 ft (3 m) long
  • Bipedal, with a long tail
  • Had dagger-shaped, serrated teeth
  • Had small teeth (.4 in or 1 cm) long, so it probably ate small lizards and mammals
  • Had a furcula (wishbone)
  • Had long legs and was probably a fast runner
  • The Dracoraptor specimen probably was washed into sea, but the paleontologists who described it tentatively said it was a “shore-dwelling animal”
  • Dracoraptor is the oldest Jurassic dinosaur known, so far
  • Most complete theropod from Wales, so far
  • Basal Neotheropoda, and the most basal coelophysoid
  • Only had three teeth in the premaxilla, which is a basal trait
  • Vidovoc said, “So this dinosaur starts to fill in some gaps in our knowledge about the dinosaurs that survived the Triassic extinction and gave rise to all the dinosaurs that we know from Jurassic Park, books and TV”
  • Can see Dracoraptor at the National Museum Wales in Cardiff

Fun fact:

There are at least a couple accounts of mammals eating non-avian dinosaurs. (from “Aucasaurus: Episode 113”)

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