In this post I present a list of the recognised species, together with a summary of how much bone we have for each species. It is surprising how little material we build our picture of Australia’s dinosaurs from! I will also provide a map to plot the location of the collection sites for these specimens, this map will also map the location of known dinosaur tracks (footprints).
Observations on names:
Dinosaur List
Evidence for Australian dinosaurs is scarce and the diversity maintained in the fossil record very narrow. There is clearly room for more to be discovered! Australia has 22 recognised species of dinosaurs identified from bone fossils, a further 9 species are imputed from dinosaur tracks.
The majority of the information in the following table is derived from the Australian Age of Dinosaurs website.
Observations on names:
- two clearly recognise the sponsors who assisted with the digs, i.e. Atlascopcosaurus recognising the mining company Atlas Copco, and Qantassaurus recognising the airline QANTAS.
- Two have aboriginal rather than Latin names, Kakuru kujani, 'kakuru' is the name for the rainbow serpent, in the 'kujani' language. Kunbarrasaurus, 'kunbarra' is a local aborignal word for 'shield'.
- One of them is named after the science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, Serendipaceratops arthurcclarkei.
- One of them is named after a character in Conan the Barbarian, Ozraptor subotaii.
Postage Stamps
Stamp collectors may recall two handsome mini-sheets that were released to celebrate Australian dinosaurs. The first, printed in 1993, was produced by Peter Trusler an Australian artist who specialised in paleontological topics. The second, printed in 2013, inspired by the first, was produced by New York artist James Gurney. Gurney produced a video about his artistic practice during this project which is worth viewing.
Notice that Timimus is depicted in both, but understanding about the taxonomy of the species had changed in the intervening years. This has seen Timimus move from being considered an ostrich mimic to something closer to a Tyranosaur, this reflected in how this species is depicted. Ironically it is the Tyranosaur not the ostrich mimic that has the feathers.
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| Peter Trusler's mini-sheet from 1993. Image source |
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| Jame Gurney's mini-sheet from 2013. Image source |
Notice that Timimus is depicted in both, but understanding about the taxonomy of the species had changed in the intervening years. This has seen Timimus move from being considered an ostrich mimic to something closer to a Tyranosaur, this reflected in how this species is depicted. Ironically it is the Tyranosaur not the ostrich mimic that has the feathers.
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| Comparison of depictions of Timimus, separated by 20 years. Image source |
You may have noticed that three of the names in the stamps are not in the list above, Koolosuchus and Ornithocheirus do not meet the criteria for a dinosaur, the stamps do not indicate that they were considered dinosaurs merely that they were alive at the time.
The record of an Allosaurus has also undergone revision. In 1993 it was thought that an Allosaurus had been found in Australia on the basis of one ankle bone. Allosaurus is an American dinosaur. That identification has now been revised, and Allosaurus is no longer recorded for Australia.
A Dinosaur Map
Below is a screen shot from my Google My Maps 'Australian Dinosaurs', within the map if you click on the location it will show the species identified at that site. The geolocating is very coarse and does not represent the actual location of a certain dig (You will need to click on the link above not the picture).
Some dinosaur track sites are Australian tourist attractions. Two in particular the Dinosaur Stampede National Monument at Lark Quarry, near Winton, Queensland, and the Dinosaur Coast, near Broome, in Western Australia, are of particular note.
Track marks and dinosaurs are colour coded by age, Yellow = Cretaceous, Orange = Jurassic and Triassic = Red.
