A tiny piece of fossilised dinosaur bone found near the Cape Otway lighthouse is being hailed as the first evidence that Australia was once home to spinosaur dinosaurs.
Previously the carnivorous species, with its trademark sail consisting of spines connected by a thin layer of skin, was believed to be limited to Europe, South America and Africa.
The findings by Australian and British researchers could not only prompt scientists to reassess the evolution of the spinosaur dinosaurs but also the distribution of the globe's dinosaurs during the early cretaceous period, when the Earth's land formed a supercontinent.
''Until now, the thought was that there were southern hemisphere and northern hemisphere dinosaur groups,'' said co-author of the paper Tom Rich from Museum Victoria.
''But now what it looks like is that there was still universal fauna at this point and they hadn't yet differentiated.''
The fossilised piece of neck vertebra dates back to the early cretaceous period more than 105 million years ago. It was found by volunteer dinosaur prospectors Michael Cleeland and George Caspar at a site east of Crayfish Bay in 2005.
However it wasn't until three years ago when British palaeontologist Paul Barrett from London's Natural History Museum began analysing the 4cm piece of fossilised vertebra that its significance became clear.
Essentially, as outlined in the research paper published in Biology Letters yesterday, the fossilised section of vertebra undermines previous suggestions that the dinosaurs of the region were largely endemic or predominantly ''Gondwanan''.
'This adds to a picture that has been emerging over the last 20 or 30 years,'' Dr Rich said.
Dr Rich, curator for palaeontology at Museum Victoria, said the bone belonged to a small animal about 2m long.
Much of the material which is contributing to scientists' reassessment of the global distribution of dinosaurs in the early cretaceous period is coming from specimens uncovered in Victoria.
Author: Bridie Smith | Source: The Canberra Times [June 16, 2011]
 |
| Spinosaur fossil [Credit: Jon Augier/Museum Victoria] |
The findings by Australian and British researchers could not only prompt scientists to reassess the evolution of the spinosaur dinosaurs but also the distribution of the globe's dinosaurs during the early cretaceous period, when the Earth's land formed a supercontinent.
''Until now, the thought was that there were southern hemisphere and northern hemisphere dinosaur groups,'' said co-author of the paper Tom Rich from Museum Victoria.
''But now what it looks like is that there was still universal fauna at this point and they hadn't yet differentiated.''
The fossilised piece of neck vertebra dates back to the early cretaceous period more than 105 million years ago. It was found by volunteer dinosaur prospectors Michael Cleeland and George Caspar at a site east of Crayfish Bay in 2005.
However it wasn't until three years ago when British palaeontologist Paul Barrett from London's Natural History Museum began analysing the 4cm piece of fossilised vertebra that its significance became clear.
Essentially, as outlined in the research paper published in Biology Letters yesterday, the fossilised section of vertebra undermines previous suggestions that the dinosaurs of the region were largely endemic or predominantly ''Gondwanan''.
'This adds to a picture that has been emerging over the last 20 or 30 years,'' Dr Rich said.
Dr Rich, curator for palaeontology at Museum Victoria, said the bone belonged to a small animal about 2m long.
Much of the material which is contributing to scientists' reassessment of the global distribution of dinosaurs in the early cretaceous period is coming from specimens uncovered in Victoria.
Author: Bridie Smith | Source: The Canberra Times [June 16, 2011]