PENDRAIG
A coelophysoid theropod dinosaur from the Late Triassic of Wales.
Pronunciation: pen-dry-guh
Meaning: Chief dragon
Author/s: Spiekman
et al. (
2021)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Glamorgan, South Wales
Discovery Chart Position: #1037
Pendraig milnerae
(Milner's Chief Dragon)Etymology
Pendraig is derived from the Welsh "Pen" (chief, head, or top) and "Draig" (dragon), which also means "chief warrior" when used in a figurative sense in Medieval Welsh. The anglicized form, Pendragon, was the surname of Uther, the father of the legendary King Arthur.
The
species epithet,
milnerae, honours Dr Angela C. Milner (1947-2021), one of the leading experts on British theropod dinosaurs, in recognition of her major contributions to vertebrate palaeontology and for relocating the "lost" holotype at the Natural History Museum, London.
Pendraig milnerae was the second dinosaur named in honour of Milner in the space of 8 days, after the spinosaurid
Riparovenator milnerae.
ZooBank registry:
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:724C0C8A-491D-4028-B692-FA921FB1273F.
Discovery
The remains of
Pendraig were discovered in the Fissure fills of Pant-y-ffynnon Quarry near the village of Bonvilston, around 3 kilometers east of Cowbridge Town in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales, in 1952.
The
holotype (NHMUK PV R 3759) includes a partial pelvic girdle with articulated series of vertebrae, and an associated left thighbone that was found in the same rock block.
Referred material includes NHMUK PV R 37596 (field number P83/1) a complete back vertebra and
NHMUK PV R 37597 (field number P65/66b) a partial left ischium (hip bone). A counterslab to the latter specimen, listed as field number P65/66a, was described and figured in the unpublished PhD thesis of Warrener in 1983. However, there is no record of this specimen in the collections at London's National History Museum.
A nearly complete thigh (BRSUG 28403) from the Tytherington fissures of Bristol might belong to
Pandraig, or another coelophysoid entirely.
Estimations
Timeline:
Era: Mesozoic
Epoch: Triassic
Stage: Norian-Rhaetian
Age range: 215-201 mya
Stats:
Est. max. length: ?
Est. max. hip height: ?
Est. max. weight: ?
Diet: Carnivore
References
• Warrener D (1983) "An Archisaurian Fauna from a Welsh Locality".
Unpublished Ph. D. thesis in Zoology, University of London, London: 384 pages.
• Rauhut OWM and Hungerbuhler A (2000) "A review of European Triassic theropods".
GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society, 15: 75-88.
• Galton P and Kermack D (2010) "The anatomy of
Pantydraco caducus, a very basal sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Rhaetian (Upper Triassic) of South Wales, UK".
Revue de Paleobiologie 29(2): 341-404.
• Milner AR and Barrett PM (2011) "Angela C. Milner and her contribution to vertebrate palaeontology".
Special Pappers in Palaeontology, 86: 7-16.
• Keeble E, Whiteside DI and Benton MJ (2018) "The terrestrial fauna of the Late Triassic Pant-y-ffynnon Quarry fissures, South Wales, UK and a new species of
Clevosaurus (Lepidosauria: Rhynchocephalia)".
Proceedings of the Geologists Association, 129(2): 99-119. DOI: 10.1016/j.pgeola.2017.11.001.
• Spiekman SNF, Ezcurra MD,Butler RJ, Fraser NC, Maidment SCR (2021) "
Pendraig milnerae, a new small-sizedcoelophysoid theropod from the Late Triassic of Wales".
Royal Society Open Science, 8: 210915. DOI: 10.1098/rsos.210915.
• Kirmse JPS, Benton MJ, Hildebrandt C, Langer MC and Marsola JCA (2023) "A Coelophysoidea (Dinosauria, Therpoda) femur from the Tytherington fissures (Rhaetian, Late Triassic), Bristol, UK".
Proceedings of the Geologists' Association (advance online publication). DOI: 10.1016/j.pgeola.2023.07.005.
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To cite this page:
Atkinson, L.
"
PENDRAIG :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
‹
http://www.dinochecker.com/dinosaurs/PENDRAIG›. Web access: 06th Mar 2026.
