Ancient reptiles and dinosaurs of WA

Mesozoic era

Check out some of the dinosaurs that walked the land of Western Australia. Compared to Europe and America not many dinosaur bones have been found in this country which means there are plenty more dinosaurs to discover. Our knowledge on Australian dinosaurs will continue to change as we find more fossils, this will be in your lifetime. Please also remember that Australia was joined to the continent of Gondwana and that the animals that roamed this huge continent may or may not have roamed what we now call Australia. We also had different climates than the continents of the northern hemisphere at this time.
It is not our intention to cover every dinosaur or fossil of Australia or to discuss the differences in dates or facts between paleontologists.

All dinosaurs were reptiles but not all reptiles were dinosaurs.

A dinosaur is a reptile that lived on land from the Mesozoic era (two or more periods of time) which has the Triassic period, Jurassic period and Cretaceous period for over 165 million years. It is believed dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago.

Dinosaurs are not the marine creatures, mammals, birds, insects, plants, lizards (dinosaurs are reptiles even though they are named lizard), turtles, crocodiles, or amphibians. Dinosaurs didn't enter the sea.

Snakes and other reptiles rely on the sun to warm themselves up enough to move about. Dinosaurs may have been warm blooded although this theory is not agreed on by all scientists.

Not all dinosaurs were alive at the same time. There is more of a time gap between the Triassic period and the Cretaceous period than between us now and the Cretaceous period.

Not all ancient creatures had four limbs. All dinosaurs had four limbs even if they didn't walk on all of them.

Picture from "Dinosaurs of Australia" by John Long.

Dinosaurs couldn't fly and none lived in the water (although some would have swam in rivers etc).

There is a scientific list of what makes a dinosaur but that is a bit technical for this page.

Most dinosaurs walked in an upright manner where crocodiles and lizards don't. Some dinosaurs walked on four legs with their back legs being longer than their front legs.

Dinosaurs are classified into their groups according to their pelvis structure. One group is the lizard-hipped type (order Saurischia) and the other is a group called the bird-hipped type (order Ornithischia).

Saurischia or Lizard-hipped dinosaurs are:

Theropods; Coelurosaurs, Carnosaurs, Prosauropods, Sauropods.

Ornithischia or Bird-hipped dinosaurs are:

Fabrosaurids ,Ornithopods; Hypsilophodonts, Iguanodonts, Hadrosaurs, Ankylosaurs, Ceratopsians

Few reptiles have been found in Western Australia from the Triassic or Jurassic periods. A single tail-bone has been found from a sauropod dinosaur in Geraldton, WA. It was roaming WA the same time as the Ozraptor (below) hunted this area.

Reptile fossils have been found in Queensland and include the Prolacertidae, Paliguanidae, Proterosuchidae, Anchisauridae, Kannemeyeriidae families. And bones from the Proterosuchidae family have been found in Tasmania. These dinosaurs had large skulls with two large holes in each side.

Photographed at the Western Australian Museum

Ozraptor subotaii

This is the end of a tibia bone from a little theropod in Western Australia that lived about 175 million years ago in the middle Jurassic period. It was approx 2 metres long. This dinosaur walked on two legs and was a meat eater. This theropod does not belong to any other group of theropods already known.

It was a swift runner measuring 2 metres long.

This bone was found near Geraldton.

At the same time that this dinosaur hunted this area, Plesiosaurs (marine reptiles) lived in the seas nearby.

The Family Cetiosauridae with the species Rhoetosaurus brownei is Australia's most complete Jurassic sauropod dinosaur. It is estimated to be approx 15 metres long and weighed up to 20 tonnes. The neck was probably very long. The incomplete skeleton was found near Roma in southern Queensland. At the time this dinosaur was alive it was a warm temperate subtropical environment.

The Family Brachiosauridae species Indeterminate. A large neck vertebra found near Hughenden Queensland closely resembles a Brachiosaurus. Its approx overall size would be 20 metres, which would make it Australia's largest known dinosaur.
It would have been alive in the early Cretaceous era. However this neck vertebra may belong to the Austrosaurus as none of this dinosaurs neck bones have been discovered to do a comparison.

A piece of an ankle bone (astragalus) possibly of an Allosaurus species from the family Allosauridae was found in pieces of rock at Cape Patterson in Victoria Australia. This is a flesh eating dinosaur and was more robust than the North American Allosaurus but smaller. It measured about 5-6 metres in length and about 2 metres high. If this is an Allosaurus it was alive when the North American dinosaur had already died out. With Australia at that time being very close to the South Pole maybe the allosaur grew a thick furry coat?

Picture from "Dinosaurs of Australia" by John Long. >>>

I'm coming after you!

Here you can see where the astragalus or ankle bone was on the allosuars foot.

re from "Dinosaurs of Australia" by John Long.

Go here for more information about this dinosaur

Family Iguanodontidae species Muttaburrasaurus langdoni from the early Cretaceous period. The Muttaburrasaurus is Australia's most complete dinosaur found in Muttaburra Central Queensland in 1963. Muttaburrasuarus walked on all four legs most of the time but it could stretch up to eat leaves in high trees. It was about 10 metres long and over 5 metres tall when standing upright. It had a well developed bump on the snout which could have been used to call other dinosaurs. It also had a very large jaw and the hands had a spiky thumb. A second skull has been found.

Had you been alive in Gondwana in the early Cretaceous period in Queensland you may have come across this dinosaur. It is from the family Ankylosauridae and the species name is Minmi paravertebra. Near complete skeletons and part skeletons have been found in Boulia and north of Roma in Queensland. This dinosaur was no more than 3 metres in length and the picture on the right is an attempted reconstruction of Minmi from "Dinosaurs of Australia" by John Long.

Carnotaurus sastrei

Photographed at the Western Australian Museum

This is a model of the Carnotaur that roamed the earth 100 million years ago in the Cretaceous period in a land that was then called Gondwana. Australia was not the shape it is now and was apart of this bigger continent. No bones of this meat eating dinosaur have been found here in Australia but a complete skeleton including skin impressions have been found in South America

Imagine getting away from these claws!!

<<<<< This is a dinosaur footprint. (Even though it looks like an emu foot print). The footprints can still be seen in Broome, Western Australia when the tide is below .5metre high but the rocks are very slippery and I saw 7 people slip over.
According to John Long of the Western Australian Museum this was previously believed to be a footprint of a Meglosuaropus but it is now believed to be from the Abelisauird group of dinosaurs which were 8-9 metres in length and were meat eaters.
Other foot prints have been discovered throughout the area as far north as Prices Point indicating that up to seven different dinosaurs lived in the region about 110-120 million years ago. One track made by a dinosaur indicates that it would be as large as nine metres long; there are also sauropod tracks, some up to one metre long.

There are several kinds of broad footed tracks of possible ornithopod dinosaurs and a five-fingered three toed tracks suggestive of a stegosaurus-like animal measuring 21cm in length. More work is being done at these sites to precisely identify the tracks.

Picture adapted from "Dinosaurs of Australia" by John Long

Family Azhdarchidae; species undetermined. It is from the late Cretaceous period about 66-70 million years ago. This bone, seen here on the right, is from the arm or ulna and was at first thought to be a marine reptile but it is now thought to be a pterosaur, a large flying reptile with a wing span of 5 metres. Pterosaurs are not dinosaurs but flying reptiles.

This is a photograph of the ulna or arm bone believed to be a Pterosaur, it is on display at the Western Australian Museum. >>>>>>

Wonambi naracoortensis

Photographed at the Western Australian Museum

This was a giant python (reptile) that would have constricted its prey or squeezed the breathe out of its prey. Every time the prey gasped in air the python pulls in tighter.
It lived in the south-west of Western Australia and was partly aquatic which meant it didn't mind going for a swim to hunt. In 1969 in South Australia hundreds of vertebrae were found of this large snake. This snake lived in the Pleistocene period 2 million years ago. This is not a dinosaur but a reptile.

Assignment: Go here and have some dino fun

Other sites you should check out:

dinosaur sites
more dinosaur sites

Text used
"Dinosaurs of Australia" by John Long
Western Australian Museum
"Digging up Deep Time- fossils, dinosaurs and megabeasts from Australia's distant past" by Paul Willis and Abbie Thomas

All pictures and photographs are under copyright laws and permission must be sought from John Long of the Western Australian Museum for the drawings and permission to use all photographs must be sought from Rachel Martinovich. 2002.