Double jackpot: Australia finds oldest megaraptor along with new dinosaur fossils
Paleontologists have uncovered fossils of not one but two apex predator groups coexisting in ancient Victoria, Australia.
First, they have identified the oldest megaraptorid fossils ever found, pushing back the known timeline for this group of theropods. Second, experts have uncovered the first definitive evidence of another theropod group, "carcharodontosaurs," in Australia.
These discoveries, unearthed along Victoria's stunning coastline, paint a vivid picture of a Cretaceous ecosystem unlike any other.
The fossil study was led by Museums Victoria Research Institute and Monash University.
Five theropod dinosaur fossils were discovered in two locations in Victoria: the upper Strzelecki Group (121.4-118 million years old) and the Eumeralla Formation (113-108 million years old). Theropods were a diverse group of bipedal, mostly carnivorous dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex.
The discovered fossils reveal that Victoria's ancient ecosystem was a complex predator landscape.
Megaraptorids, reaching 6-7 meters in length, were the apex predators. These were a group of medium to large-sized theropod dinosaurs that lived during the Cretaceous period. These dinosaurs possessed sickle-shaped claws on their second toe, which were likely used for slashing and tearing prey.
Alongside the dominant megaraptorids, the ancient Victorian ecosystem also included smaller carcharodontosaurs, which ranged from 2 to 4 meters in length.
In South America, carcharodontosaurs were the giants, unlike in Australia.
'The discovery of carcharodontosaurs in Australia is groundbreaking,' said Jake Kotevski, PhD student.
'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,' Kotevski added.
The ecosystem was also home to agile, meter-long unenlagiines, sometimes called "southern raptors." These smaller, more lightly built dinosaurs were likely swift hunters, possibly specializing in smaller prey.
The discovery of two of these fossils as the oldest known megaraptorids worldwide is a significant find. It pushes back the timeline of when these predators roamed the Earth and gives insights into their evolution.
Furthermore, the presence of these ancient megaraptorids in Australia, along with other theropod species, suggests that Australia's dinosaur fauna played a vital role in the larger Gondwanan ecosystem.
'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,' explained Thomas Rich, senior curator of vertebrate paleontology at Museums Victoria Research Institute.
The study demonstrates that museum collections are essential for scientific breakthroughs. Some of these fossils, hidden away for decades, are now filling the gaps in the dinosaur puzzle.
Under the Dinosaur Dreaming project, the research team will continue to explore fossil sites where the large megaraptorid was found.
As per the press release, this project has already yielded over 10,000 fossils, representing diverse prehistoric life, including dinosaurs, mammals, birds, pterosaurs, plesiosaurs, turtles, and fish.
The findings were published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
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For a more in-depth look at our Celestron NexStar 4SE review. Mars now appears as nothing more than a featureless dot in most telescopes. But on Tuesday evening (June 17), it forms a wonderful naked-eye pairing with the thin, only slightly brighter star Regulus in the constellation of Leo the Lion. Observers in the Americas will see the planet and star 2 degrees apart or less from June 13 through June 20, and one degree or less apart June 15 through June 18. For viewers, around 40 degrees north latitude, Regulus and Mars are side by side, only 1.5 degrees apart on June 14, and Mars is 45 arc minutes (three quarters of one degree) almost straight above Regulus on June 17. That will be the evening when they are closest together. Neither one is exceptionally bright; Regulus shines at magnitude +1.34 and Mars is at magnitude +1.41. But the fact that they will appear so near to each other and are so closely matched in brightness will make them appear to stand out in the early evening sky. Look for them around 10 p.m. local daylight time, roughly one-quarter up in the western sky. In addition to their closeness to each other, look for the orange-gold of Mars and blue-white of Regulus to appear intensified by contrast to each other when they are so close together (as seen with the naked eye or binoculars). On Sunday evening, June 29, a waxing crescent moon, 24% illuminated by the sun, will pass very close to Mars and make for a rather attractive sight, low in the western sky at dusk. The moon, moving around Earth in an easterly direction at roughly its own diameter each hour, will appear to pass just below the orange-gold planet. Even though North America will miss out on seeing the moon pass directly in front of Mars (called an "occultation"), Mars will attract attention as it slowly appears to glide above the moon. The view of the moon occulting Mars will be restricted to parts of Ecuador and Peru. After closest approach, the moon will move slowly away from Mars. Locations to the east (or to the right) of a line running roughly from central Texas through central Ontario will be in various stages of twilight at the moment that the moon and planet are closest together (called a "conjunction"). To the west (or to the right) of that line, the sun will be above the horizon when the two are in conjunction, but will still appear relatively close as darkness falls. For places where the two are closest together within an hour or less after sunset, you'll probably initially need binoculars to pick Mars out against the bright twilight sky. Once the sky has sufficiently darkened, however, Mars will be relatively easy to see. For most locations, the upper limb of the moon will skim to within about 20 arc minutes (one-third of a degree) of Mars. For places across the northern U.S. and Canada, the gap between the two will be a bit larger, while across the southern U.S. and the Caribbean, the gap will be a bit smaller. The table below (calculated exclusively for by Joe Rao) provides the specific details for 15 selected cities in the U.S. and Canada. The table gives civil times (all p.m.) of Mars' closest approach to the edge of the moon's upper limb. Separation between Mars and the moon's upper edge is given in terms of minutes of arc (the apparent width of the moon on June 29 is 31 arc minutes), and the percentage of the apparent width of the moon. A value of 0.48, for example, is equal to 48% of the moon's width (or fractionally, slightly less than one-half). Examples: from Miami, closest approach between Mars and the moon is at 10:13 p.m. EDT. Separation is 15 arc minutes or 0.48, which is just under one-half of a moon's width from Mars to the upper edge of the moon. From New York, closest approach is at 9:48 p.m. EDT, the separation is listed at 23 arc minutes or 0.74, which means that 74% of the moon's width will separate Mars from the moon's upper edge. Related Stories: — How to see the 'Horse and Rider' in the Big Dipper's handle this summer — Mars: Everything you need to know about the Red Planet — June's Strawberry Moon treats skywatchers to a rare low-riding show (photos) After its rendezvous with the moon, Mars will continue to press on to the east. In the weeks and months that follow, Mars will continue to be a fixture in the evening sky, but will continue to recede from Earth and consequently will get fainter, diminishing to the rank of second magnitude. Passing north of Spica on Sept. 13 and Mercury on Oct. 19, Mars will be getting progressively lower in the sky — more southerly and nearer to the sunset. When it finally fades into the evening twilight glow of early November, it will be on the far side of the sun, some 225 million miles (362 million km) from Earth and just 1/13 as bright as it was in mid-January. It will finally end its run as an evening object when it will be at conjunction with the sun next year, on Jan. 9. Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, Sky and Telescope and other publications.
