AUSTRALIAN DINOSAURS AND MEGA FAUNA
Did dinosaurs ever walk upon the continent we now know as Australia? It seems that they did, and in prolific numbers. Here’s a brief summary on Australian dinosaurs and some references for further reading.
Australian dinosaurs are known mostly from fragmentary fossils. These show that Australia had a unique and diverse range of dinosaurs. Most of the fossils come from the eastern half of Australia – Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria – although isolated dinosaur bones have also been found in Western Australia and South Australia.
New Discoveries
New discoveries of relatively complete dinosaurs from Queensland are now putting Australia on the global dinosaur map and opening up a new frontier for dinosaur research. Most of the Australian dinosaurs appear to have lived at the far eastern end of East Gondwana, which was positioned well to the south of Australia’s present geographical location.
Habitat
About 120 million years ago, Victoria, Australia, was a cold land of long winters. During the Early Cretaceous a rift valley formed between Australia and Antarctica as the two continents slowly split apart. Streams and rivers formed extensive floodplains. Large fossilized logs located along the Victorian coast suggest nearby forests of evergreen conifers. Deciduous ginkgoes were also important forest trees. Ground level growth would have included ferns, bryophytes and mosses. Horsetails and reeds would have lined the banks of running water.
Some examples
Australia’s largest known dinosaur species is Australotitan cooperensis, also nicknamed Cooper. This sauropod, was discovered in 2006 in Eromanga, South-West Queensland. It’s estimated to have been 5-6.5 meters tall at the hip and 25-30 meters long. It is one of the top 10-15 largest dinosaurs worldwide. It weighed the equivalent of 1,400 red kangaroos and inhabited southwest Queensland between 92–96 million years ago. At this time Australia was joined to Antarctica. The last vestiges of a once-great inland sea had by then disappeared.
And two with unique Australian names:
Qantassaurus intrepidus, named after Australian airline Qantas, was a small ornithopod from the Early Cretaceous of Victoria. It was herbivorous, and known for its unusually short, deep lower jaws with only ten cheek teeth. Qantassaurus was part of a diverse assemblage of small Australian ornithopods that might have been part of the Australian dinosaur fauna since the Jurassic.
Diamantinasaurus matildae was a titanosaur, a group of sauropods known mainly from Gondwanan continents. Titanosaurs included the largest terrestrial animals known, with some members reaching up to 35 metres in length and 100 tonnes in weight. Diamantinasaurus was a relatively small titanosaur, from 15 to 16 metres in length and only 15 to 20 tonnes in weight. Fossils of Diamantinasaurus include a near-complete forelimb, ribs, pelvic girdle and upper hind limb.
Australia’s Dinosaur Trail
You can step back in time and follow in the footsteps of prehistoric giants on Australia’s Dinosaur Trail. The world-famous outback triangle links the towns of Hughenden, Richmond and Winton, home to some of the world’s best-preserved fossils – all scattered across Outback Queensland.
Visitors can explore this prehistorical hub – 1,350km west of Brisbane or 380km from Townsville – and dust off 98-million-year-old dinosaur bones and witness evidence of a dinosaur stampede. There is the largest Australian fossil collection, and ancient marine reptile fossils.
References and Further Reading for Australian Dinosaurs
Australian Museum
ZMESCIENCE
Australian Dinosaur Trail
EarthSky
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