First Report of a Noasaurid Dinosaur From Australia

[Scylla]

Dino bone from the famous Lightning Ridge opal mines leads to first ID of this rare type of predatory dinosaur in Australia. A second, 20 million year older example also recognised during their studies.

 

https://m.phys.org/news/2020-01-predatory-dinosaur-added-australia-prehistory.html

[DD1991]

Noasaurid fossils from the Berriasian-Cenomanian interval are quite sparse, with the probable exception of Deltadromeus, so the record of noasaurids from Australia is quite significant because it could suggest that noasaurids were the dominant cursorial theropods of Gondwana during the late Cretaceous. With the recent paper describing the Cretaceous elaphrosaurine Huinculsaurus from Patagonia, it's probable that both elaphrosaurines and noasaurines co-existed in Gondwana during the Albian-Cenomanian.