The 2 carcharodontosaurian specimens supply the very first proof for this dinosaur group in Australia.

They originated from the Strzelecki Group (121.4-118 million years of ages)and the Eumeralla Formation(113-108 million years of ages).

“The discovery of 2-4 m long carcharodontosaurs in Australia is groundbreaking,” stated Museums Victoria Research Institute and Monash University Ph.D. trainee Jake Kotevski.

“It’s remarkable to see how Victoria’s predator hierarchy diverged from South America, where carcharodontosaurs reached Tyrannosaurus rex-like measure to 13 m, overlooking megaraptorids.”

“Here, the functions were reversed, highlighting the originality of Australia’s Cretaceous environment.”

The paleontologists likewise discovered 2 megaraptorid specimens in the Strzelecki Group.

The finds show that this dinosaur group had actually attained big body size (6-7 m long) at the time of its very first look in the fossil record.

Furthermore, the specimens show that fairly large-bodied megaraptorids grew at high latitudes.

“Two of the fossils represent the earliest recognized megaraptorids worldwide, broadening our understanding of the group’s evolutionary history and recommending Australia’s theropod animals played an essential function in Gondwanan communities,” Kotevski stated.

“The findings not just broaden Australia’s theropod fossil record however deal engaging proof of faunal interchange in between Australia and South America through Antarctica throughout the Early Cretaceous,” stated Dr. Thomas Rich, senior manager of vertebrate palaeontology at Museums Victoria Research Institute.

“The findings likewise challenge previous presumptions about body-size hierarchies in Gondwanan predator communities highlighting Victoria’s special Cretaceous animals.”

“Our group continue to survey crucial fossil websites, consisting of where the fossils of the big megaraptorid were found, triggering brand-new opportunities of examination for the Dinosaur Dreaming job, which has actually caused lots of considerable discoveries consisting of more than 10,000 fossil bones and teeth because the task started,” Kotevski stated.

A paper explaining this research study was released in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

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Jake Kotevski et alEvolutionary and paleobiogeographic ramifications of brand-new carcharodontosaurian, megaraptorid, and unenlagiine theropod stays from the upper Lower Cretaceous of Victoria, southeast Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontologyreleased online February 19, 2025; doi: 10.1080/ 02724634.2024.2441903