Tuesday, September 15, 2015

'Ligthning Claw' Megaraptorid from Australia

A large-clawed theropod (Dinosauria: Tetanurae) from the Lower Cretaceous of Australia and the Gondwanan origin of megaraptorid theropods. Gondwana Research.


A team of researchers, including our friends Federico Fanti from Italy and Phil Bell from Australia, have identified the fossilized remains of a previously unknown megaraptorid dinosaur—they've called it "Lightning Claw" after the large claw it sports and in honor of the place it was found.

The dinosaur was likely approximately 7m in length when alive, and that it lived approximately 110 million years ago, during the mid-Cretaceous period, when Australia was still part of the supercontinent, Gondwana. The fossils consisted of a lower leg part and hip, a rib, metatarsal and forearm and a 25cm claw. The fossils were all found near the town of Lightning Ridge, in Queensland, in the South East part of the country, and represent the largest carnivorous dinosaur known to have lived in Australia.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-09-lightning-claw-dinosaur-australia.html#jCp