Aussie ceratosaur

2012, acrylics, digital & photography

ca. 125,000,000 years ago, Early Cretaceous (early Aptian), San Remo, (87 km southeast of Melbourne), Victoria, Australia.

Under the 24-hour sunlight of the south polar summer, a 2.5 metre long ceratosaurian theropod hisses at a potential threat as she slinks back to her lair after a hunting foray. Grasped in her foreclaws is a dromaeosaurid chick.

This is a largely hypothetical reconstruction, based on an isolated astragalocalcaneum (NMV P221202) from the Early Cretaceous Wonthaggi Formation at San Remo, Victoria. Although only 6 cm wide, this fragment provides sufficient anatomical data to provide the first unambiguous evidence for an Australian ceratosaur.

In addition to the astragalocalcaneum, I've also incorporated a few other bits and pieces of fragmentary Victorian theropod - including some Masiakasaurus-like teeth from Flat Rocks. The end result is a sort of generalised "proto-Masiakasaur". The presence of dromaeosaurs in EK Victoria is based on isolated teeth.

REFERENCE
Fitzgerald EM, Carrano MT, Holland T, Wagstaff BE, Pickering D, Rich TH, Vickers-Rich P. (2012) First ceratosaurian dinosaur from Australia. Naturwissenschaften. 2012 May 3. [Epub ahead of print]

copyright 2012, Brian Choo