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Science

Carnivorous dinosaurs thrived in Australia 120 million years ago, new fossils show

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Summary
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88% Informative

Victoria was positioned within the Antarctic Circle , separated from Tasmania by a vast rift valley.

This was the Early Cretaceous, and lush forests filled with dinosaurs dominated the landscape.

Most of the dinosaur fossils found in Victoria belong to small plant-eaters called ornithopods.

Two shinbones provide the first evidence of carcharodontosaurs in Australia .

The Bass Coast megaraptorid was almost 30 million years older than the roughly five- to six-meter-long Australovenator.

The large, muscular arms and fingers tipped with fearsome scythe-like claws were presumably the primary weapons of megarptorids.

The abundance of ornithopods in Victoria made this region more suited to smaller prey specialists.