200-Million-Year-Old Meat-Eating Dinosaur Discovered in UK - The Oldest Theropod Species in History

Paleontology experts in the UK discovered a new carnivorous species of dinosaurs. According to the study, the animal is the oldest meat-eating dinosaurs that have existed on the planet. Details show that the species lived longer than any other carnivores, as its fossils were dated back to 200 million years ago.

Pendraig Milnerae

Scientists discovered that the dinosaur represents an entirely new species which they called Pendraig milnerae. They named it after Angela Milner, a trailblazing Museum scientist who died in August 2021. Milner helped in relocating the dinosaur after it went missing in the Museum for many years. According to Dr. Sussanah Maidmentz, a senior researcher in palaeobiology at the Museum, the paper would not be possible without Milner.

The new species is the oldest meat-eating dinosaur found in the UK, according to Natural History Museum. It had many underlying secrets revolving around its existence back in the prehistory of Earth. One of the most baffling details of the Pendraig mineral is that it was already unearthed, lost, and rediscovered for the past 40 years. The series of various examinations that devolved around the dinosaur may have caused confusion that was why the experts had to rename it a couple of times.

Pantyffynnon, a small village in the southern regions of Wales was where the first record of the Pendraig milnerae discovery occurred. The dig was conducted on an area where narrow holes and gaps, called fissure fills, on the land structure are abundant. These gaps allowed some of the prehistoric remains to fall and be kept as fossils for millions of years against the harsh natural forces.

Fissure fills that are charted in Panyffynnon are one of the best paleontological sites to extract fossils as old as the Triassic period. The animal remains discovered in this place were contributions to most of the prehistoric lifestyle of dinosaurs, crocodiles, and even mammals.

Oldest Carnivorous Dinosaur

In the 1950s, the small meat-eating creature was extracted from its slumber. The fossil of the species is in great condition, as it still included several parts of the anatomical structure such as the back, hips, and legs. Throughout the first investigation held, the Pendraig milnerae could possibly be a part of the coelophysoid group. The said dinosaur type was known to have a carnivorous trait despite its small size. Coelophysoids have common facial features, long and narrow snouts, that can be found during the Late Triassic and the Early Jurassic periods.

University of Birmingham's geography, Earth, and environmental expert and author of the study Stephan Speakman said in a Natural History Museum report that it had no significant difference of characteristics, but it has a certain combination of several attributes that are unique amongst its group that's why they concluded that Pendraig milnerae was a new species. The experts believe that the carnivorous group had a wide collection of various characters, which convinced them that the recent fossil is a separate species under the same meat-eating cluster.

The theropod Pendraig milnerae was the first confirmed species in the UK to have the oldest age. Further studies will be conducted to gather more information about the dinosaur's lifestyle. The study was published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, titled "Pendraig milnerae, a new small-sized coelophysoid theropod from the Late Triassic of Wales."

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