A new fossil discovery may rewrite Australia’s Cretaceous Period evolutionary history. Paleontologists led by Museums Victoria Research Institute and Monash University uncovered what they believe is the oldest known megaraptorid and possibly the first known evidence of carcharodontosaurs from Australia’s Victoria Coast.
According to the study published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, these findings could change what science has known about predatory hierarchy in Cretaceous Australia.
“The discovery of carcharodontosaurs in Australia is groundbreaking,” said Jake Kotevski a Ph.D. student with Museums Victoria Research Institute and Monash University, in a press release.
During the Cretaceous Period, Australia was part of the supercontinent Gondwanan, along with Antarctica, New Zealand, Africa, India, and South America, among others. During this time, Gondwanan began breaking up.
As the continent broke apart, dinosaur evolution changed and diverged with it. In South America, for example, theropods like carcharodontosaurs dominated the predator hierarchy above megaraptorids.
According ...
