DINOSAUR hunters have made a spectacular discovery which sheds new light on a giant “mega raptor” that stalked the Earth 120 million years ago.
Palaeontologists in Australia came across the oldest known fossil of the 20ft-long beast – technical name Megaraptorid – proving it was around for longer than scientists had thought.
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Also unearthed in the digs along Victoria’s stunning coastline was the first concrete evidence that another beast – the Carcharodontosaurs – roamed around on Australian soil.
Both dinosaurs are theropods – a group characterised by hollow bones and three toes with claws on each limb – and lived during tghe Cretaceous Period, which ran from 125 to 66million years ago.
Theropods were primarily carnivores and ran around on two powerful hind legs – and some species sported feathers.
The megaraptorid was previously thought to have appeared around 93.5million years ago, but the fossils from this collection date back as far as 121million years.
They were equipped with short but needle-sharp teeth and strong forelimbs with lethal, sickle-shaped claws.
The Carcharodontosaurus was amongst the largest land-dwelling carnivores ever to have lumbered across the Earth’s surface, and could grow to a whopping 45ft.
Until now, the giant dino had mainly been found in north Africa and South America – so it was a revelation to unearth one in Australia.
However, the Carcharodontosaurus specimens found down-under are much smaller, at around 6 to 12ft.
The fresh discoveries show the two apex predators would have co-existed and battled over the same prey.
The study was led by Museums Victoria Research Institute and Monash University.
Jake Kotevski, a PhD student involved in the project, said: “The discovery of Carcharodontosaurs in Australia is groundbreaking.
“It’s fascinating to see how Victoria’s predator hierarchy diverged from South America, where Carcharodontosaurs reached Tyrannosaurus rex-like sizes up to 13 metres, towering over megaraptorids.
“Here, the roles were reversed, highlighting the uniqueness of Australia’s Cretaceous ecosystem.”
Unlike in other parts of the world, the Megaraptorids in Australia would have been the apex predators.
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The dinosaur ecosystem in southern Australia also featured creatures called Southern Raptors.
These were smaller, lighter predators that could travel at speed.
Researchers explained that the new discoveries expand not only our understanding of the dinosaur hierarchy, but also of the role “fauna”, or plants, played at the time.
Thomas Rich, senior curator of vertebrate paleontology at Museums Victoria Research Institute, said: “The findings not only expand Australia’s theropod fossil record but offer compelling evidence of faunal interchange between Australia and South America through Antarctica during the Early Cretaceous.
“The findings also challenge previous assumptions about body-size hierarchies in Gondwanan predator ecosystems highlighting Victoria’s unique Cretaceous fauna.”
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