First ceratosaurian dinosaur from Australia.

Die Naturwissenschaften
Erich M G FitzgeraldP Vickers-Rich

Abstract

The basal theropod dinosaur clade Ceratosauria, and its subclade Abelisauroidea, is characteristic of late Mesozoic terrestrial vertebrate faunas in western Gondwana (South America, Africa, Madagascar, and India) and Europe. Yet unambiguous records of ceratosaurs have hitherto been absent from Australia, where the theropod assemblage appears to include several typically Laurasian clades. Here, we report the first evidence of ceratosaurs (and potentially abelisauroids) from eastern Gondwana--a diagnostic astragalocalcaneum from the Aptian (121-125 Ma) of Victoria, Australia. Ceratosauria thus occurred in both western and eastern Gondwana during the Early Cretaceous. This fossil adds to the poorly known dinosaur fauna of Australia, a major clade of basal theropods, emphasising that its mid-Cretaceous theropod diversity was surprisingly cosmopolitan despite relative geographic isolation, including clades that have been thought to be typical of both Gondwana and Laurasia--Ceratosauria, Spinosauridae, Carcharodontosauria, Tyrannosauroidea, and Deinonychosauria. Such a contemporaneous association of theropod clades is unknown from other Gondwanan continents and questions the views that the late Mesozoic dinosaur fauna of Australia wa...Continue Reading

References

Feb 9, 2002·Science·Thomas H RichRoland A Gangloff
Aug 13, 2004·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Paul C SerenoJack L Conrad
Jul 9, 2009·PloS One·Scott A HocknullDavid A Elliott
Mar 27, 2010·Science·Roger B J BensonPat Vickers-Rich
Aug 28, 2010·Science·Matthew C HerneSteven W Salisbury
Sep 18, 2010·Science·Stephen L BrusatteXing Xu
Jun 23, 2011·Biology Letters·Paul M BarrettPatricia Vickers-Rich

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