Fossilised Skeleton of Dinosaur Discovered on Welsh Beach

A fossilised skeleton of a theropod dinosaur has been discovered on a beach near Penarth in the Vale of Glamorgan and has been donated to Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum Wales). The discovery was made by Nick and Rob Hanigan from Llantwit Major who were fossil hunting along the Lavernock beach in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales after storms in spring 2014. The dinosaur was a distant cousin of Tyrannosaurus Rex and lived at the early part of the Jurassic Period 201 million years ago. It is related to Coelophysis that lived approximately 203 to 196 million years ago in what is now the southwestern part of the United States of America.

Dinosaurs first evolved 230 million years ago, and died out suddenly 65 million years ago. For 165 million years they were the dominant land-living animals on Earth. The Welsh dinosaur was small, probably only about 50cm tall and about 200cm long, which had a long tail to help it balance. This, the first meat-eating dinosaur discovered in Wales, will be unveiled at Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum of Wales) in Cardiff today (June 9, 2015). The fossil will be on display at the main hall of the Museum from 9 June until 6 September 2015.